Usability Study of the Coates Library Website after Redevelopment Using Laptop and Mobile Devices

This article describes a usability study of the newly redeveloped website for Trinity University\u27s Coates Library. Conducted in 2019, the study involved eleven participants in two groups – six laptop users and five mobile users. Each participant observation focused on six tasks: navigating to the site, finding a liaison librarian, determining if the library had a particular database, locating information on borrowing privileges, finding if a study room was available, and locating a particular special collection. The results revealed that laptop and mobile users browse the site differently though they were equally successful in completing the tasks. The study exposed opportunities to correct a few minor design concerns, address a programming flaw with the mobile menu, and to identify an issue when searching the special digital collections

PERCEIVED MATERNAL STRESS, COPING STRATEGIES, AND SUGGESTED INTERVENTIONS IN CARING FOR CHILDREN WITH BOTH MEDICAL COMPLEXITIES AND DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS

This qualitative study highlights caretaker stress and coping in mothers of children with complex medical needs in addition to developmental delays. Areas of stress were complex, affecting emotional health, careers, and even vacations. Burnout theory was utilized to address the increased stress levels in these mothers. However, this theory was supplemented with Stress and Coping theory after qualitative data analysis as there were other factors that allowed these mothers to persevere—in particular, a type of coping identified as “meaning-based coping,” where situations are positively re-appraised and ordinary events are imbued with positive meaning. The mothers expressed their desire for more support, particularly after the child’s birth or diagnosis, and at periods of transitions. An effective multicomponent hospital intervention was utilized in Canada with promising results. Nurses met with families in their home environment following initial hospital visits. Not only would a similar program be beneficial for all families, but it is also desired by maternal caregivers

College Students’ Attitudes Towards Police Officers and their Perceptions of Prison Systems

The current research seeks to study and gauge current perceptions of police among college students at East Tennessee State University. As well as studying perceptions of police among students, the research will compare police perceptions among students with student opinions on incarceration. Correlations will be attempted to be observed through various demographical characteristics and similar standardized viewpoints. This will build on prior research from Lim (2015) and others in which college students were used to gauge results around perceptions of police. It is important to understand college student perceptions on police and incarceration as they form the future work force and form a large voting bloc to impact policy in the future. Following this introduction, this thesis will cover an additional four sections

Female Trombonists\u27 Experiences of Gender Bias

Female trombonists are underrepresented throughout the United States especially in collegiate teaching positions. Is the underrepresentation of female trombonists as professional musicians and teachers causing less females to pursue playing the trombone? After discussing the expected roles of females and acceptable instruments for women to play during the 1800’s, this document mentions many women who were able to surpass the norms of female musicians and make their own musical choices. The purpose of this study is to discover if there is any relevance of gender bias towards female trombonists in society today and potentially determine how these biases affect their musical opportunities. This study and the survey questions were inspired by Melissa Ewing’s dissertation, Examining the Under-Representation of Female Euphonium Players in the USA, which examined the lack of female euphonium players in the United States. In order to create a trombone-centered survey, I used questions from Ewing’s survey as a guide while adding other questions to help gain useful information from trombone professors and female-identifying trombone students in the USA. The names of college trombone professors in the United States were collected from the College Music Society directory and this determined the professors who were surveyed and asked to provide their studio gender ratio and questions about identifying as female when applicable. In addition, the professors forwarded the student survey invitation to female-identifying students in their studios to provide their individual experiences as female trombonists in college. This document will serve as a resource for future studies on female-identifying trombonists and gender studies in general regarding music education and performance