Reaction All Years

Project Description:

Tetra Society of North America and Algonquin College’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program have partnered up in order to help make buildings more accessible for people with physical disabilities. The solution is a mechanically actuated ramp designed to overcome steps of up to 4 inches, while maintaining a low profile so as to avoid obstructing the regular flow of pedestrian traffic. The ramp is powered by two electric pistons which lift the ramp up and down, these pistons are controlled by an Arduino Uno.

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Project Description:

This App aims to establish a virtual connection between the Health Care Provider (HCP) and the customer, to establish the necessary help for the relatives or themselves within the safety of their own house.
If a client is feeling uneasy for their loved one’s wellbeing, hiring an HCP who can send an image of their relative in real-time to the client, allows for instant peace of mind. This same challenge exists for determining whether the patient is cooperative or assessing their overall demeanor from a distance, that could easily be explained via a photo or video directly to the client. Documented footage can help monitor an individual’s attitude (ie., loneliness, forgetfulness, alertness, etc.) and give important updates to the client as support. This mobile application will also give independence for patients who are self-sufficient and need extra help but are fully capable of communicating directly with their HCP (ie., scheduling appointments, meal preparation, personal trainers).
This report will be of importance to anyone from the client and even to the Health Care Provider. There would be a cost advantage and decreased risk to directly hiring a verified HCP through a hiring agency versus an ad in a classified’s section. There would also be a benefit to the person remaining in home during this stage of the pandemic – in isolation but still capable of maintaining a secure and safe lifestyle.

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Project Description:

This study’s research objective was to understand the many drivers, rationales, and factors of outbound student mobility and identify ways to better prepare and engage students for these mobility experiences.

Data was collected through interviews with Subject matter Experts (SMEs), professors and coordinators from Canada and Nigeria, as well as student participants from Algonquin College.

The research data reveal that most Algonquin college students are not aware of any study/work abroad programs at the college. However, the research suggests that all the students believe that there are numerous benefits from the program and unanimously believe that better marketing and promotion are needed. Staff, academic and administrative, expressed optimism at the idea of the outbound mobility program. An important key finding is that barriers to implementation at the college level have to do with limited resources and support, and adjusting courses to fit into a mobility schedule may be difficult. All SMEs from Nigeria have collaborations with foreign institutions, including the United States of America which is significant to acknowledge looking forward to future partnerships and opportunities. From the research, cost was identified as another huge barrier, and so the possibility to expand funding is crucial. The current Covid-19 pandemic and short duration of this project was identified as major limitations to the project.

The research focused on potential pathways for program development by evaluating our key findings, which translated into short, medium, and long-term recommendations. Essentially, this research project provides insights and discussions on best practices and serves as a pathway for these recommendations to leverage new sources of funding and resources to support study or work abroad opportunities.

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Project Description:

We were originally tasked with designing, developing and fabricating a simulated abdomen that can be used for CPR training. The abdomen would simulate realistic abdomen pressure feedback and breathing patterns.
The final product is a Simulated Abdomen apparatus designed for use in CPR training, that replicates the response of the human abdomen. It is designed to simulate a human adult abdominal response when CPR is being performed correctly on the device. With its small size it is easily portable, making it great for use in classroom settings for learning purposes. The simulated abdomen has realistic pressures and spring like responses that would be found in a human abdomen, so that when CPR is performed it feels like a real abdomen. When CPR is performed correctly, a green LED light will come on and the breathing mechanism will actuate and simulate breathing to show that CPR has been performed correctly. When CPR is performed incorrectly, a red LED light will come on and the CPR process must be restarted.

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Project Description:

The Cheetah Networks PulseView™ solution provides actionable, real-time, edge-to-cloud analytics for heterogenous loT network infrastructure. It delivers unprecedented visibility into the quality of experience of machines and users at the edge of the network. It allows users to have real-time visibility into the service or application experience, giving the user timely data to pre-empt and resolve network issues before they impact service. The PulseView™ solution also provides predictive analytics to forecast application needs and trends.

Our research for PulseView™ was split up between the front-end development for the user dashboard and outage maps design and functionality (Shuting), and the back-end development for network data collection, analysis, and aggregation (Ryan).

It is imperative for the PulseView™ solution to have a clean, stable, and highly functional UI that displays critical QoE and outage information to the customer. Shuting has aided Cheetah Networks immensely in meeting those critical needs during her time as a software engineer and research assistant.

What makes the PulseView solution unique from other network analytics software is its ability to provide real-time visibility and analytics of QoE from edge-to-cloud on a network. Ryan has been researching and developing the real-time data collection and aggregation components of the PulseDirector™ since September 2020 as a Cheetah Networks software engineer and research assistant.

During our time as software engineers and research assistants for Cheetah Networks, we learned many valuable lessons in engineering, design, initiative, and teamwork.
The development of large-scale and cutting-edge software is multi-faceted and being faced with the challenges that come with the rapid growth at Cheetah Networks is not an easy task. As students seeking to hone our craft, we had the opportunity to grow under pressure and under tremendous circumstances. We have learned and applied:
– Software design specification/review process
– Integration of new components with an existing and rapidly growing software
– Full-stack web development
– Networking protocols and standards
And much more through the guidance of our mentors and their trust in us to achieve and persevere through these challenging times.

Our progress with this research project has gone very well and we are looking forward to continuing our work on the future of network analytics with Cheetah Networks.

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Project Description:

AeroBarrier is a cutting-edge envelope sealing system that simultaneously measures and seals building envelope air leakage. This product meets passive house airtightness standards, achieves airtightness requirements in less time without costly delays, as well as eliminating noise and odour complaints by concurrently sealing exterior and interior walls. AeroBarrier is a single-component, high-performance, synthetic, permeable, aerosol-applied sealant that performs as an air barrier around ceilings, floors, walls, windows, doors, and electrical and plumbing fixtures. It is UV stable, seamless, monolithic, and can be applied over a wide range of temperatures. AeroBarrier microscopically seals joints and seams of the building envelope from any gap of ⅝” to nothing.

The research approach for this project is to analyze the performance of the AeroBarrier sealing technology by conducting a series of air depressurization tests with the use of a blower door. The process will be to investigate why air leakages occur during finishing construction and if the AeroBarrier is affected. The experimental testing was conducted at the Minto Communities Arcadia low-rise residential construction site, on a block of 8 slab-on-grade townhouses. The chosen method for AeroBarrier application at this site and many others is to spray the product post-drywall. It should be noted that AeroBarrier may be applied at any time between rough-in and prior to occupancy. Although, the ideal time to apply AeroBarrier is pre-drywall or post-drywall. This experiment will demonstrate how the 1.6 ACH50 (Air Changes per Hour at 50 Pascals of pressurization) for a townhouse may fluctuate during the finishing construction stages and ultimately evaluate the performance of AeroBarrier. The goal is to find out where, when, and why air leakages occur after the AeroBarrier sealant is applied.

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Project Description:

The focus of this study is to compare and contrast the benefits and pain-points of an on-campus versus online studio experience. This study aims to identify which aspects and practices of the online mode might complement the on-campus mode.

For the proposed research question, we took a qualitative approach. We sent out questionnaires and conducted semi-structured interviews to collect data from students in various design-related programs in the School of Media and Design. The data gathered from the questionnaire and interviews were analyzed by thematic coding.

Our major findings are:
1. Remote studio increases interaction with the instructor but lacks dynamics between students
2. Tools and methods used in remote learning increased the overall student performance
3. Remote environment enabled easier collaboration with team and clients
4. The outcome of remote learning depends on the program

Based on the findings and literature review, we came up with the following recommendations for a blended learning model:
1. Find the balance between technology presence and organic human interaction
2. Keep the habit of using Slack, online submission, and class recordings
3. Be aware of the instructor’s and students’ capability
4. Keep in mind that the blended model must be tailored to fit the context of each program

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Project Description:

This study had the Client Experience Branch at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Their main concern has been the increasing number of permanent residency applications being rejected as they are either incorrectly filled or are incomplete. Our research’s objective was to address these concerns by applying human-centred design principles to develop insights and recommendations that can reduce the rate of rejections for the applications and serve users with improved client services. In our case, we evaluated the temporary public policy for Out-of-Status construction workers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Our research question was: How might we improve the user experience of the application package?

The first phase of this project involved exploring the public policy through a subject matter experts (SME) focus group. The panel was conducted through an online meeting platform where IRCC officers clarified the program and internal processes. The next step consisted of a cognitive walkthrough of the forms and a heuristics analysis to evaluate the forms’ content and identify initial issues.

For the second phase of the project, our focus was to collect insights from real users and SMEs. Since the target audience was out-of-status workers, due to ethical issues, we could not contact them. Then we used an alternative plan of recruiting generic users with specific characteristics. We used the method of thematic coding to identify common themes among interviewees’ answers. With all the similar themes identified and segmented into groups of ideas, we did sensemaking activities for ideation and incorporated that information into our knowledge on design principles. Then, we analyzed the collected data and constructed recommendations from short to long-term on possible ways of optimizing the form’s user experience.

We identified technical problems related to the forms’ pdf format, issues with clarification on the forms, and the lack of error messages. Our data and interviews indicate that the form language should be kept short, simple and accessible. Both the guide and the form should have a clear structure and hierarchy.

Short Term
– Provide clear instructions in the forms
– Reducing mistakes by providing error messages
– Changing the layout of the table of content of the guide

Medium Term
– Chatbot for quick assistance
– Short-video content for a quick tutorial
– Adding section/tabs in the guide to organize the information better
– Change the preview message to properly instruct the user to open the form

Long Term
– App to gather information and fill out the form automatically
– Making forms device friendly
– Biometric/facial recognition for security purposes
– Using technology to create interactions within the guide and the forms

Based on our findings, the theory that guides this research is that a user-centred approach should be taken in all research and services phases. The literature review, SME interviews, and data collected from users indicated that it is crucial to understand the user’s needs to improve the user experience.

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Project Description:

This research project looks at the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP), through which skilled foreign workers are given a pathway for permanent residency by working and settling in one of the eleven northern communities across five provinces. The research focuses on various usability issues, applicant pain points, and other challenges found during the application process. A design thinking approach was taken to better understand the mental model of applicants, IRCC and other stakeholders.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are currently facing high rejection rates amongst applicants seeking permanent residency, and so the objective of this research is to understand and solve various usability issues faced by RNIP applicants during the entire application process. The goal is to increase the success rate for applicants applying to RNIP, to IRCC officers who are processing these applications, and for other stakeholders.

Some of the methods used to collect data included in-depth interviews with two groups of Users, as well as Subject Matter Experts. We also conducted cognitive walkthroughs, usability testing, and presented findings through personas and journey mapping. In addition a set of experience principles guided the design ideation for solutions to the problems identified, and these were given for the short, medium, and long term implementation. The recommendations centered on ways to reorganize, and simplify the forms through changes to layout and content. We also discuss how emerging technologies may play a role in the future of immigration with the use of artificial intelligence, behavioural insight gathering, virtual reality experiences, and face/ voice recognition softwares.

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Project Description:

Algonquin College’s Mechanical Engineering faculty has requested the design and build of a torsion tester. A torsion tester is designed and built on the basis of strength, weight, accuracy, and cost. The client will use this device as a teaching aid to provide further explanation for students in order to grasp the concepts of torsional stress and failure analysis. This machine should read out angle of twist as well as applied torque on a digital display built into the tool.
Currently, lab-grade torsion testers are cumbersome and very heavy. These tools are also commonly bolted down to ensure damage to the tool is unlikely. This is intended to be an “out of lab” example for students during their theory class. For example, the ADMET eXpert 9000 torsion tester has a volumetric footprint of 18in x 18in x 42in [1]. This would require two people to safely carry around the building and would be hard to navigate the hallways with. The students of the engineering faculty at Algonquin College would greatly benefit from a real-life example or torsional failure to aid them in visualizing the lessons.
To succeed, the torsion tester must:

1. Have an accuracy of +/- 20% of calculated values
2. Weigh no more than 30 pounds, to allow for easy transport across the college.
3. Be small enough to comfortably fit inside the arms of the carrier (dimensions: 18in x 12in x 6in)
4. Be built to be able to withstand any stresses caused during usage (bending stress, torsional shear)
5. Withstand release of energy caused during failure of the specimen being studied
6. Have a cumulative cost (parts and fabrication) of no more than $250-300, as per Algonquin College’s budget.
7. Allow a user to develop enough torque to cause failure of a specimen
8. Allow for the easy removal of a failed specimen from the jaws of the tool

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