For the past decade the attainment gap in college admission and graduation rates between Black males and their White counterparts has continued to grow. A growing body of research has held that there is a negative correlation between educational attainment and the decline of the Black family structure. As the structure of the Black family has deteriorated due to the lack of a male presence, so have participation rates in higher education for African American males. It is established that environmental and cultural factors have a profound influence on human behaviors, including academic performance. What is less understood is how environmental and cultural factors influence the way in which Black males come to perceive education and how those perceptions influence not only their behavior but their performance in school. It is unknown why being African American and male causes this segment of the population to stand out in the most negative and disheartening ways, both in school and in society. This study measures the perceived influence of four factors (societal dissonance, self-efficacy, African American male mentorship, and institutional support) on the academic success of African American male students at a predominantly White institution of higher education.

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Although there have been only a few etiological studies that have examined the development and maintenance of body image in males, research fairly consistently reports that exposure and presumed comparison to images of ideal male bodies increases body dissatisfaction. Social comparison provides individuals with a mechanism by which to evaluate their body appearance to those around them. When individuals compare their bodies to those of others, they are attempting to gauge their standing or status relative to those around them, the results of which have inherent status implications. There is increasing empirical evidence that suggests perceived increases in status result in increased testosterone levels, whereas testosterone decreases when status is perceived as having been diminished. Thus, the core of the present study: can the process of comparing the appearance of one’s body to that of others affect the testosterone levels, body satisfaction, and mood of males? To examine the above research questions, a two-part study was designed. A pilot study was conducted with 117 male undergraduates primarily to examine the psychometrics of measures to be used in the main study. The measures appeared psychometrically sound and were thus used in the main study. In the main study, 129 male undergraduates were exposed to photographs of one of three male body types (i.e., lean/muscular, skinny, average) to determine whether or not exposure to the different body types differentially affected participants’ testosterone levels, body satisfaction, and mood. Results indicate that testosterone levels decreased over the course of the experiment in each of the three groups; however, the body type to which participants were exposed did not differentially affect participants’ testosterone levels. Body dissatisfaction was greater among participants who viewed lean/muscular bodies than those who viewed average bodies. Lastly, mood was not differentially affected by viewing different types of male bodies. Implications and possible explanations for these results are discussed.

Hindlimb unloading is a widely used model for studying the effects of microgravity on a skeleton. Hindlimb unloading produces a marked loss in bone due to increased osteoclast activity. Electrical muscle stimulation is being investigated as a simulated resistive exercise countermeasure to attenuate this bone loss. I sought to determine the relationship between strain measured at the antero-medial aspect of the proximal diaphysis of tibia and plantar-flexor torque measured at the ankle during electrical muscle stimulation as an exercise countermeasure for hindlimb unloading in rats. A mathematical relationship between strain and torque was established for the exercise during a 28 day period of hindlimb unloading. The strain generated during the exercise protocol is sufficient to attenuate bone loss caused by hindlimb unloading. Twelve six-month old Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with uni-axial strain gages in vivo on the antero-medial aspect of the proximal diaphysis of the left tibia. Strain and torque were measured during electrical muscle stimulation for three time points during hindlimb unloading (Day 0 (n=3), Day 7 (n=3), Day 21 (n=3)). Peak strain decreased from 1,100 strain at the beginning of the study to 660 strain after 21 days of hindlimb unloading and muscle stimulation. The peak strain rate measured during muscle stimulation was 10,350 strain/second at the beginning and decreased to 6,670 strain/second after 21 days. The changes in strain are not significant, but the underlying trend in strain values may indicate an increase in bone formation due to the electrical muscle stimulation countermeasure. A mathematical model that relates measured strain to peak eccentric torque during muscle stimulation was created to facilitate estimation of strain for future studies of electrical muscle stimulation during hindlimb unloading.

Rats that undergo hindlimb unloading (HU) as a simulation for space flight experience bone changes similar to astronauts in microgravity. The purpose of this research was to assess whether an exercise countermeasure would be effective in preventing or mitigating bone degradation during HU. Controlled electrical muscle stimulation was applied to the lower left hindlimb to simulate resistive exercise. Adult 6-mo. old male rats were assigned to 3 groups of 12 each: hindlimb unloaded (HU), aging cage control (CC), and baseline (BL). The CC group was pair-fed to match the nutritional intake of HU animals during the 28 days of the study. The left leg was exercised 3 days a week for the duration of the study, with the unexercised right leg serving as a contra-lateral control. Mechanical tests were conducted to assess the strength of cancellous bone in the proximal tibia metaphysis. Although isolated specimens of cancellous bone are not feasible, reduced platen compression (RPC) was employed to directly load only the cancellous core region of each specimen. There was no significant difference in ultimate stress or elastic modulus between BL, CC, and HU-Ex (exercised). However, HU-Ex results were dramatically and significantly higher than HU-No Ex (contra-lateral unexercised control) for both ultimate stress (68%) and elastic modulus (81%). It is also notable that ultimate stress was 32% higher (but not statistically significant) for HU-Ex compared to CC. The total bone mineral density in the tibial metaphysis was significantly larger, 11%, in the HUEx compared to the HU-No Ex group's values. The results clearly demonstrate the efficacy of the exercise protocol in preventing the substantial mechanical deterioration induced by HU.

Since the Condé Nast Publications launched the first male fashion magazine GQ in Taiwan, Male fashion magazines in Taiwan have been booming for twelve years. No matter a large amount of advertising or increasing circulations, it shows that Male fashion magazines become one of resource of main fashion trades. .It is worth to know that, advertisers play an important role in the proceeding of producing magazine content. The advertisers have a great influence on the magazine content and the message which audience receive. In this research, researcher discusses how do advertisers affect the make-up of magazine to create an atmosphere for their sales growth of products? How do advertisers control the editorial decisions? How do advertisers affect the liberty in editor producing content? And how do advertisers make the commercial message as the magazine content? Two male fashion magazine publishers which can be the best examples among Taiwan male fashion magazines are selected. One is local publisher, another is international one. Researcher used ¡§In-depth interview¡¨ to collect the data for research. Seven stuff were interviewed in the research. Participant Observation is also adopted. The researcher, entered into the organization of the magazine publisher to examine the advertisers how to affect the proceeding of producing magazine content. The result shows that advertisement avenue is the major profit for Taiwan male fashion magazines, around 70% profit from advertisement. In order to maintain advertisement avenue, advertisers ask editors to arrange their commercial next to the content. By doing this, publishers create an atmosphere of sale products for advertisers to attractive more costumers. In addition, editors place a lot of products in the magazines for meeting advertisers¡¦ requirements to earn more profits. With the growing of produce placement, commercial message is turning into the content of magazine gradually. Moreover, advertisers use ¡§Invisible way¡¨ to affect how to edit the magazine content . ¡§Invisible way¡¨ means that advertisers pay editors for producing commercial content. This producing way make readers believe that the content is providing the c information which readers need; however, this content actually is a part of advertisements. Advertisers need a page of magazine for promoting product, and magazine publishers need financial support from advertisers. This interrelationship makes editors produce magazine content for advertisers. Therefore, magazine become a tool of advertisers promote product. In the proceeding of production of female fashion magazine, Earnshaw(1984¡^found out that female fashion magazines become a catalogue, and this research provide the further evidence that Taiwan male fashion magazines are the same in these days. In addition, it reflects that the ranks of sartorially self-aware males are growing compared to the past years.

<p>Nearly a centennial after the granted women’s suffrage in the United States, almost 40 yearsfrom the start of the 70’s women’s right’s movements women have shown that they canobtain same level in education as men can and graduate with competitive skills as men.However, according to statistics that is when the equality seems to loose its balance. Despitethis there are women in this “Yes We Can”-era of where a former First Lady was verycompetitive in a Presidential Race, that with certain success factors compete effectively invarious male-dominant fields.</p>

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-215).