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Most people have struggled with reading in one situation or another, depending on their appreciation for the content, their prior experiences, and the texts. This department column shares ways for educators to help literacy learners unlock their potential with instruction anchored in their skills, knowledge, ways of learning, interests, and attitudes.

This article examines how two African American females composed counter-selves using a computer motherboard and a stand-alone microphone as critical identity texts. Situated within sociocultural and critical traditions in new literacy studies and black feminist thought, the authors extend conceptions of language, literacy and black femininity via the agentic, powerful and knowledgeable selves of African American women, constructs that are often missing from the scholarship on young African American women and their practices of self-definition. The motherboard and microphone serve as analytical constructs for understanding critical new literacies and subject malleability, which crisscrosses in complex configurations across the experiences, histories and relationships that carry meaning for those who struggle through scenes of silence. Motherboards and microphones act metaphorically as technologies of the self, which resist and reformat cosmologies of black femininity that have long patterned gender oppression. The findings suggest that technologies exist everywhere, and technology related to literacy and language exists in many forms, including vocabularies of motherboards and microphones. The authors conclude that using such vocabularies for expressing identity can work through the power of metaphor in its richest sense to offer new conceptions of self, whereby the subject becomes a personal artifact capable of immense transformative potential.

Introduction: In vitrogenotoxicity assays have a high sensitivity to detect rodent carcinogens, but mammalian cell tests have a propensity for misleading positive results (poor specificity). Recent data show a greater risk of misleading positive results in p53-deficient rodent cell lines than in p53-competent human cells. Measures of cytotoxicity, source and stability of cells used are also important.Areas covered: In this review, potential reduction in the top concentration for testing (10 mM) is discussed. Indirect effects on non-DNA targets, which may not be relevant for humans or may exhibit a threshold, have been identified.Expert opinion: The reliability of in vitrogenotoxicity tests could be improved by selecting p53-proficient, human cells. The provenance and stability of the cells used should be demonstrated. Measures of cytotoxicity based on cell proliferation should be used. Lowering the top concentration for testing from 10 mM to 4 mM or 2000 μg/ml, whichever is the lower, as proposed by some experts, would seem to be justified. Artefacts that may be caused by reaction of test substance with culture medium should be avoided. Better understanding and investigation of the potential for threshold and irrelevant modes of action are encouraged.

Using 18 weeks of classroom data from a much larger ethnographic study, Kirkland examines the reading ideologies influencing the literacy engagement of a young Black male, Derrick. (To protect participants’ identities, this article uses pseudonyms in place of participants’ actual names.) In doing so, Kirkland theorizes about how young Black males express thoughts about reading through specific statements of identity—what he calls genres of self. He concludes that many Black males read or don't read based on their thoughts about particular reading tasks—which include complex and layered beliefs around texts, contexts (of instruction), and the subtexts that permeate both. Kirkland suggests that young Black men often express such beliefs through grammars of acceptance/rejection. However, when the situation of reading fits them (i.e., corresponds with their reading ideologies), Black males read and find pleasure, interest, and purpose in doing so.

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the literacy practices of a group of 11–14 year‐old Black males who defined themselves as “the cool kids.” The study is framed using theories that view literacy as a social and cultural practice involving multiple sign and symbol systems. Two research questions guided the study: How did coolness relate to literacy among the young men who called themselves “the cool kids,” and what symbolic patterns helped to shape these relations? The findings describe how the group's use of language and style involved issues of race, gender, and pop culture and reveal how coolness, as a pop cultural artifact of Black manhood, contributed to the literacy practices of the young men and to the construction of their symbolic selves. These findings contribute to building a theory of Black masculine literacies. تقدم هذه المقالة نتائج دراسة ثقافية تتبعية بصدد ممارسات التعلم لدى مجموعة شباب سود تتراوح أعمارهم من 11‐14 وصفوا أنفسهم كـ((الشباب من شلة رابط الجأش)). ويتم تأطير هذه الدراسة في نظريات تنظر إلى التعلم كممارسة اجتماعية وثقافية متضمنة فيها أنظمة رموز وإشارات. وقد وجه الدراسةَ سؤالان: ما هي العلاقة بين سمعة شباب الشلة وشعبيتهم والتعلم وما هي التشكيلات الرموزية التي ساعدت في تكوين هذه العلاقات؟ وتصف النتائج كيف طريقة استخدام اللغة وأسلوبها اشتملت على مسائل العرق والجنس والثقافة الشعبية وتكشف عن كيف السمعة كعنصر الثقافة الشعبية في رجولية رجال السود ساهمت في ممارسات التعلم لدى الشباب وتكوين أنفسهم الرموزية. وتساهم هذه النتائج في بناء نظرية معارف القراءة والكتابة الرجولية لدى السود. 本报告是关于一项民族志研究。该研究调查一组11至14岁自命为「酷孩」的黑人男孩所共有的读写文化实践。研究框架所采用的理论，是把读写文化视为一种涉及多元标志与符号系统的社会和文化实践。指导研究问题有二：「酷」与自称「酷孩」的黑人青少年所共有的读写文化实践是如何关联起来的？有助于这些关联的成形是什么样的符号模式？研究结果描述该组「酷孩」所采用的语言和风格如何牵涉到种族、性别和流行文化等问题。研究结果亦揭示「酷」作为黑人成年男子的一种流行文化产物是如何在青少年的读写文化实践上作出贡献，以及如何在他们以符号象征的自我形象建构上作出贡献。这些研究结果有助于建立关于男性黑人读写文化的理论。 Cet article rapporte les résultats d'une enquête ethnographique des pratiques de littératie d'un groupe de garçons noirs de 11–14 ans qui se définissent eux‐mêmes comme « les gars cool ». L'étude se base sur les théories qui considèrent la littératie comme une pratique sociale et culturelle impliquant de multiples systèmes de signes et de symboles. L'étude a été effectuée à partir de deux questions de recherche: comment le fait d'être « cool » est‐il lié à la littératie chez de jeunes garçons qui s'appellent eux‐mêmes « les gars cool », et quels patrons symboliques ont aidé à façonner ces relations ? Les résultats montrent comment l'utilisation du langage par le groupe et le style impliquent des questions de race, de genre, et de culture populaire et révèlent comment le fait d'être « cool », en tant qu'artefact culturel de la masculinité des Noirs, ont contribué aux pratiques de littératie des jeunes garçons et à la construction de leur moi symbolique. Ces résultats contribuent à la construction d'une théorie des littératies masculines des Noirs. В статье описаны результаты этнографического исследования, посвященного общению со словом группы афроамериканцев 11‐14 лет, называющих себя “крутыми парнями”. Исследование базировалось на теориях, которые рассматривают грамотность как социальную и культурную практику, предусматривающую использование разнообразных систем знаков и символов. Ученые поставили перед собой два исследовательских вопроса: Как соотносится “крутизна” с уровнем грамотности бравирующих ею подростков? и Какие символы и модели способствуют формированию такого баланса? Полученные результаты демонстрируют, как в языке и речевой стилистике этой группы отражаются вопросы расы, пола и поп‐культуры и каким образом такой поп‐культурный символ чернокожей маскулинности как “крутизна” определяет практику общения подростков с печатным словом и формирует их самоидентичность. Эти результаты вносят существенный вклад в создание теории о развитии грамотности среди афроамериканцев мужского пола. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio etnográfico de las prácticas de aprendizaje de un grupo de varones negros de entre 11 y 14 años de edad que se consideraban “chulos” (“the cool kids”) a sí mismos. El estudio se basa en teorías que consideran el aprendizaje como una tradición social y cultural que incluye múltiples sistemas de símbolos y señas. Dos preguntas de investigación guiaron el estudio: Cómo se relaciona la idea de ser “chulo” al aprendizaje entre estos muchachos que se consideraban a sí mismos “chulos”, y cuáles patrones de símbolos les ayudaron a crear estas relaciones. Los resultados describen cómo el idioma y el estilo usados por el grupo incorporaban cuestiones sobre la raza, el género, y la cultura popular, y revelan cómo “ser chulo”, como un artefacto de la cultura popular del macho negro, contribuyó a las prácticas de aprendizaje de estos jóvenes y a la creación de sus seres simbólicos. Estos resultados contribuyen a la creación de una teoría de las competencias del hombre negro.

In December 2002, the Safety Working Party (SWP) of the European Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) published a “Position paper on the limits of genotoxic impurities”. The European Union intended to supplement a gap in the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines on qualification of impurities, as it was deemed that impurities with genotoxic potential were a special case not specifically covered in terms of qualification by the Q3A and Q3B guidelines. In fact, the SWP’s proposed approach follows a safety factor-based risk assessment process similar to that in ICH Guideline Q3C on limits for residual solvents, rather than a qualification process as described in ICH Q3A and B.

The Composite Health Care System (CHCS), a MUMPS-based hospital information system (HIS), has evolved from the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) installed within VA Hospitals. The authors explore the evolution of an ancillary-based system toward an integrated model with a look at its current state and possible future. The history and relationships between orders of different types tie specific patient-related data into a logical and temporal model. Diagrams demonstrate how the database structure has evolved to support clinical needs for integration. It is suggested that a fully integrated model is capable of meeting traditional HIS needs.

Recent test guidelines for the mouse lymphoma tkmutation assay (MLA) have highlighted the need to achieve 80–90% reduction in cell survival for a valid, robust assay with toxic chemicals. For many pharmaceuticals, under new ICH recommendations, this may be the only in vitro mammalian cell test that is performed. It was important to discover, therefore, how critical it is to achieve 80–90% toxicity, and how best to select the number and spacing of test concentrations to fulfil this requirement. We analysed data from 121 positive chemicals, provided by nine industrial and commercial laboratories, and found that for 17 chemicals (14%), the response profiles were so steep that using a conventional 2-fold dilution series of test concentrations would have failed to identify the active range (>90% toxicity at one concentration, and no significant mutation at 50% of this dose), and positive responses would have been missed. Analysis of genotoxicity results in other test systems with these 17 chemicals revealed no differences in overall response profiles from the 104 chemicals that exhibited less steep MLA responses. The MLA results were therefore deemed to be equally biologically relevant. From this analysis, it is recommended that concentration spacing in the MLA needs to be closer than that obtained with a 2-fold dilution series, and a dilution factor where each concentration is 0.75 or 0.8 of the one above is recommended to identify the active range of positive mutagens.

An excerpt from the Talk Back archives on PreRemodeler.com by Susan Pierce and David Kirkland is presented.