Digital Commons Network^™

Nevr: Learning Continuous Neural Video Representation With Local Feature Codes For Video Interpolation, Wentao Shangguan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Video frame interpolation aims to synthesis a non-exists intermediate frame guided by two successive frames. Recently, some work shows excellent results in learning continuous representation of temporally-varying 3D objects with neural field (NF), which could be used for interpolating the original video. However, these methods require several videos from different viewing angles, the information of camera poses, learning for each specific scene, and achieving sub-optimal results for video frame interpolation. To this end, we propose a new learning neural field representation-based model, Neural Video Representation (NeVR) to learn a continuous representation of videos for high-quality video interpolation. Unlike the traditional …

Supplementation Of The Community Action Board Of Santa Cruz County’S Commitment To Equity, Cristian Paredez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. (CAB) is a non-profit organization that aids low-income clients with emergency, sustaining, and self-sufficiency services through their specialized program areas. Through a micro-level assessment of the County, research indicates a growing rate of poverty among marginalized communities, particularly in the Latinx population. Inequities relating to the low-wage occupational outlook in highly populated Latinx communities coupled with a high unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County only exacerbate the cyclical issue of poverty. Among marginalized community members who are most affected, they are also faced with housing insecurity and lack of health insurance. …

Alternative To Suspension: Decreasing Suspension Rates For Minority Students, Alyssa Galindo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Between the timeframe of August 2020 - December 2021 Salinas Union High School (SUHSD) suspension rate data was reviewed in the California School Dashboard network. It was determined the suspension rate of this school district exceeded those of its fellow districts. SUHSD has increased their suspension rates of English learners by 2.3%, decreased their suspensions of African American students by 2% and Hispanic students have maintained the same rates as the prior year (caschooldashboard.org). Contributing factors to this social dilemma are lack of knowledge of Alternative to Suspension, unconscious and conscious bias and the newly adopted practice of Social Emotional …

Violence Impact In Salinas, Kimberly Torres Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Community Safety Program is an agency that focuses on creating methods and analyzing data to decrease violence among youth. The Salinas community completed a survey in which the responses were analyzed to describe the beliefs of youth violence. Violence among youth is a problem that has increased significantly during the last few decades. Some of the contributing factors that create violence are low socioeconomic status, unemployment, and locations prominent by gangs. The consequences of violence are domestic violence or poor neighborhoods, mental health problems, and lack of services and education. Because of this, the majority of the Salinas community …

Overcoming Technology Illiteracy, Yolanda Cruz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Community Bridges Child & Adult Care Food Program is a non-profit organization that strives to provide yearly services to the tri-county residents of Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and San Benito County. Amidst their service providence, the agency works diligently with daycare providers. A requirement for working daycare providers is to take annual training that incorporates new regulations from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Feedback Loops At Use In Non-Profit Organizations, Chantal Guerra

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Community Bridges serves clients of all ages across Santa Cruz County through ten programs which address the needs of clients across different life stages. Serving a diverse change of client population it can become difficult to ensure client satisfaction and the agency mission is being fulfilled across all programs. The lack of a benchmark to measure overall client satisfaction does not allow for the agency to measure for discrepancies and build on continuous quality improvement. This capstone project will create a high quality client feedback loop that creates a centralized survey for the ten programs of Community Bridges. This will …

Care And Compassion, Daisy Cuevas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many students who struggle with behavioral and mental health issues have a difficult time succeeding in school. Harden Middle School’s Wellness Center is where students struggling with socioemotional, mental, and behavioral health can come to receive support. The Care & Compassion program was created to address students who have more than five F’s or a zero-grade point average (GPA) and are failing classes at a high rate. A lack of parental and student engagement in distance learning, as well as depression due to isolation caused students to fall behind, fail classes and increased mental health concerns. Therefore, the Care & …

Developing Better Study Habits Through Peer Mentoring, Desteney Garcia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many children lack the resources and opportunities to improve their studying skills. Specific skills include improving their peer mentoring abilities, ranging from learning to listen, guide, or collaborate. By giving students the knowledge on studying and being in charge of their work with their peers, they become more engaged with the content and develop a sense of competency. Interactions will also help students improve their prosocial behavior. To test out my theory, I worked with seven students involved with the First Tee of Monterey County. They varied in ages but learned what studying is and what it entails. They then …

Education Inequities In South Monterey County: No English Learner Left Behind, Alejandra Zavala

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is established in the state of California to serve primarily low-income individuals and farmworkers in rural areas. English learner students, in South Monterey County esp. San Ardo & San Lucas Elementary, are not receiving the high-quality education they deserve. Latinx parents in rural areas such as South Monterey County are unaware of where to seek legal assistance for their children’s education. In return, the education system fails English learner students, and they do not succeed in school. Furthermore, Prop 227 in California made it harder for English learner …

The Need For Health And Community Resources In Monterey County, Yesenia Lustre

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey County Health Department in the Planning Evaluation and Policy Unit (PEP), focuses on three areas; facilitating the implementation of the Health Department Strategic Plan, aligning and monitoring the department's performance standards. PEP has had an intern who noticed the needs of Monterey County residents facing barriers when accessing health and community resources. The Monterey County’s Population is at 444,732 and more than half of the population are people of color. With having such a diverse population there are a lot of barriers to consider when accessing health and community resources such as language barriers and navigating health insurance. …

Engaging Santa Cruz County Employers, Jayne Prieto

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This internship was completed at the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County (CAB), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income at-risk youth and adults. The intern was fortunate to work with the Links2Work!, an Alcance program. Links2Work! helps individuals gain work experience and find linkages to employment. Currently, the biggest challenge is finding employment for those individuals impacted by the justice system. Their past histories have disqualified them from jobs. The intern’s Capstone Project was to find fair chance employers in the county of Santa Cruz that will allow the organization to better serve job seekers and …

Healthy Living’ Nutrition Education In Kindergarteners, Delia Estrada

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Nutrition should be considered an important factor in one’s life, and be discussed into further context at school as well as at home. Having healthy nutrition can help with physical growth and development of an individual, allowing children the development of mindset, capacity building, capabilities, cognitive development, gross and motor skills within an individual's effective consumption of healthy and nutritious meals. In order to support the nutrition skill regulations, I have developed a two-day curriculum for Kindergarten children at Alisal Community Elementary in Salinas, California. In this curriculum, I would explain to the participants how to differentiate a healthy meal …

Access To Public Assistance Benefits & Services Outreach, Maria Saucedo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monterey County Department of Social Services Community Benefits Branch provides temporary public assistance to eligible residents of Monterey County to meet their basic needs. Programs include temporary cash assistance, General assistance, Medi-Cal, CalFresh, and CalWorks. The goal of the agency is to promote the social and economic self-reliance of each individual they serve. Low-income families and individuals are faced with a lack of access to benefits and services that are provided to help. There are many factors as to why we see inequality and a lack of access to benefits and services, such as access to technology, education around resources, …

Marketing Plan: Increasing Access & Creating A Local Voice, Lizzy Hahn

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Too many youth in Santa Cruz County are not seeing their basic needs being met. Basic needs of residents include education, health and financial stability, three of the main focuses described in United Way of Santa Cruz County’s (UWSCC) mission. The pandemic has only exacerbated the effects that low-income families and individuals have experienced, with youth at the forefront of those affected. UWSCC aims it’s programming towards local at-risk youth, providing needed support services and resources to the community. When systems for distributing these services and resources were switched from in-person to predominantly virtual pathways, it became harder for low-income …

The Prevention Of Bullying In Elementary Schools, Cecilia Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This Capstone project focuses on bullying prevention and its importance in elementary school years. Bullying may start when a child enters elementary school. It is important to inform students of the types of bullying many students can receive. Learning about the damages bullying can have to a student. Bullying can affect a child mentally, physically, and emotionally. In some cases, bullying can lead the child to become depressed and commit suicide.

Preventing Teasing Among 1st Graders, Jocelyn I. Del Real

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper discusses the different types of teasing that can occur and how it may effect children, as well as children being able to indicate one action they tend to do from the 6 pillars of characteristics in the near future.

Increasing Mental Health Awareness In The Homeless Youth Community, Kelly Joyce

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Mental illness within the homeless community is a pressing issue, which requires an increase in awareness throughout the community in order for it to be properly addressed. A lack of funding for low-cost or free mental health care, difficulty accessing existing programs by the homeless, and few options for care have contributed to the issue of mental illness and poor mental health among the homeless youth community. This can lead to various severe consequences, such as declining mental state for those within the community, prolonged homelessness, and an increased risk of developing a substance abuse disorder.

The Youth Homeless Response …

Improving The Identification And Diagnosis Of Learning Disabilities, Madalyn Nico

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This Capstone Project focuses on improving the identification and diagnosis of learning disabilities. This is important because diagnosing a child properly will help teachers understand the students' learning styles and better position the teachers to create more effective learning environments. Also, teachers will be able to better support and accommodate their students both academically and socially. It is argued that many teachers do not have the right resources, understanding, or authority to diagnose learning disabilities. The primary stakeholder perspectives obtained were from teachers, staff, and students because of their relevant experiences and roles in identifying and addressing learning disabilities. After …

College Students Are Often Unaware Of How To Maintain A Healthy Romantic Relationship, Giselle Saavedra

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Erikson's Theory Intimacy vs Isolation

Increasing College Students’ Awareness Of The Influence Social Media Has On Romantic Relationships, Jazmin Chaidez-Rocha

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many young adults are unaware of the influence social media has on romantic relationships. Social media can have an effect on individuals’ communication skills, being a victim of cyberstalking, and cause jealousy characteristics such as distrust. To address the lack of awareness, I created an interactive presentation for college students in the greek community at California State University, Monterey Bay.

The Impacts Of Social Media On Social Movements, Gabriela Aguilar

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As time passes by there is more representation of social movements due to their high exposure on social media. Technology has become a major part of our everyday lives and on average we spend many hours on social platforms. We are exposed to the injustices that occur every minute of every day through social media. Before, when technology was not accessible for everyone the news people received were from television, newspapers, or even magazines. Now, we have platforms such as Twitter and TikTok among others that provide us with news on any malpractice that occurs in our communities and society. …

Where Do We Start? Improving College-Prep Resources Available To Students Of Color, Hilario Mosqueda

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper serves to demonstrate and respond to the severe lack of college preparation (college-prep) resources available for students of color in the k-12 public education system. College-prep resources are crucial for students to be able to make the transition from high school to college. First generation students are especially in need of these resources as they lack the knowledge that second-generation students may receive from their parents who have already been through the process of applying, transitioning, and experiencing what higher education is like. Surveys were administered to current high school students of color applying for college. Survey data …

Pobody’S Nerfect: Improving The Identification And Diagnosis Of Learning Disabilities, Jocelyn Kiser

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on improving the identification and diagnosis of learning disabilities. This is important because diagnosing a child properly will help teachers understand the students' learning styles and better position the teachers to create more effective learning environments. Also, teachers will be able to better support and accommodate their students both academically and socially. It is argued that many teachers do not have the right resources, understanding, or authority to diagnose learning disabilities. The primary stakeholder perspectives obtained were from teachers, staff, and students because of their relevant experiences and roles in identifying and addressing …

Why Culture Matters: The Importance And Effectiveness Of Creating A Multicultural Classroom When Teaching Elementary School Students In Public Schools, Haley Judith Quintana

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is to analyze the benefits of having a multicultural classroom in elementary schools. Multicultural education refers to any form of education or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds. Teaching about multiculturalism can increase not only the teacher's knowledge, but also the students' learning. From this Capstone project the researchers learned how some teachers and parents feel about having different cultures being taught in the classroom. Based on the information that is collected the researchers found ways to incorporate multiculturalism. Upon interviewing four elementary teachers …

Today A Reader, Tomorrow A Leader: How Reading Comprehension Plays A Role In Academics Among Low-Income Students, Marissa Sandra Francisca Torrez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For this Capstone Project, the researcher investigates how teachers and low-income families view the resources needed for students to increase their reading comprehension and what they thought could be done to improve access to those resources. Interviews included a fieldworker who has a child enrolled in a middle school, a middle school Community Liaison who is very familiar and close to low-income families and the issues they face with education. Additionally, three middle school students completed a survey on reading comprehension. Based on an analysis of the interviews, surveys and the relevant research literature, the researcher used what they had …

Welcoming Classroom, Comfortable Learning Experience: Implementing Social Emotional Learning In The Classroom, Daniela Muradas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many students have difficulty expressing their emotions and working with others in elementary school classrooms. The focus of this capstone project is on implementing social-emotional learning in the classroom. This is important because students will learn proper ways to deal with their emotions, work with others, and have better self-awareness. An evidence-based argument is offered that students need guidance and support from their teachers to be able to create a positive space for their learning. Considerations of the issue included the perspective of two parents of elementary school students because they know the needs of their children, and a teacher …

Benefits Of Music Education, Lauren Rafter

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In this Essay I will talk about the benefits of music in education. It is more than just learning how to play a new instrument or song. It is about the mental, physical, social and educational benefits. To understand these benefits, we need to dive into why we study music. Music education in K-12 provides many benefits from social, emotional and even physical skill improvement.

Transfer Student Success: Enrich The Lives Of Students Who Transfer To A University, Stephanie Castro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on improving the experiences of students who transfer from a community college to a university. Students need support before, during, and after they transfer to a university because transfer students make up a significant portion of the student population. Also, it is argued that a lack of support can negatively impact engagement and interest in the school. The primary stakeholder perspective chosen were first-generation transfer students, first-semester transfer students, and graduated transfer students because they have lived and gone through the process of transferring to a university. Three action options emerged from an …

Pobody's Nerfect: Improving The Identification And Diagnosis Of Learning Disabilities., Jizelle Rios

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on improving the identification and diagnosis of learning disabilities. This is important because diagnosing a child properly will help teachers understand the students' learning styles and better position the teachers to create more effective learning environments. Also, teachers will be able to better support and accommodate their students both academically and socially. It is argued that many teachers do not have the right resources, understanding, or authority to diagnose learning disabilities. The primary stakeholder perspectives obtained were from teachers, staff, and students because of their relevant experiences and roles in identifying and addressing …

Helping Hand For Youth Participants, Andrea Bravo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Rancho Cielo is an agency that works with youth in Monterey County and helps them achieve a shared vision of success. Not enough participants are reaching out to teachers when they need help to have a more successful experience. Participants are not taking advantage or using the resources that are offered. This affects the participants and the agency as a whole. Some contributing factors are lack of trust on the staff members, not having a good connection between staff and students, and language barriers. The consequences to this issue are that participants are not learning, their assignments are incomplete, they …