THE CASE OF TITO AND SOMA MUKHOPADHYAY: SIMULTANEOUS FACTITIOUS HEROISM BY PROXY AND FACTITIOUS HEROISM

Tito Mukhopadhyay is a profoundly autistic man whose mother, Soma Mukhopadhyay, since he was 11 years old in 2000, to the present, has presented him on the television programs BBC, CNN, PBS, Closer To Truth, and Good Morning America, and via other forms of media and literature, as being able to write-communicate and type-communicate not only normally, but at an advanced level, and on his own accord – that is, from an independent content of his mind – with the assistance of the Facilitated Communication method that she treats him with, which she refers to as the “Rapid Prompting Method”. In this article, I provide the intricate visual, auditory, and behavioral observations of the interactions of Tito Mukhopadhyay and Soma Mukhopadhyay that were overlooked, since 2000, by innumerable millions of people, including the large array of scientists and physicians who studied them. I concurrently adduce various novel concepts in order to characterize my observations. My observational analyses, and concurrent conceptualization, demonstrate the presence of what I refer to as “Factitious Heroism By Proxy”, and Factitious Heroism. I demonstrate that Soma Mukhopadhyay engages in a multitude of variations of novel, highly surreptitious, multifaceted Facilitated Communication fraud with Tito, which I refer to as “Factious Heroism By Proxy”, which is a novel conception, and novel diagnostic category, that I have formulated. “Factious Heroism” is discussed by Dr. Marc Feldman. Soma concurrently engages in Factitious Heroism with regard to how she publicly presents herself.

Exploring human factors of the agile software tester

Although extensive research has been conducted on the characteristics of the agile developer, little attention has been given to the features of the software-testing role. This paper explores the human factors of the software testers working in agile projects through a qualitative study focusing on how these factors are perceived. We interviewed 22 agile software practitioners working in three international companies: 14 testers, five developers, and three designers. Additionally, we observed 11 meetings and daily work of 13 participants in one of the companies. Our findings show that the views on the human factors shaping the agile software tester’s role were crystallized into seven traits, which the agile team members saw as central for the software-testing role: the ability to see the whole picture, good communication skills, detail-orientation, structuredness, creativeness, curiosity, and adaptability. The testers spent half their day communicating and learned how to mitigate the fact that they had to bring bad news to other project members. They also facilitated communication between the business side and development. Based on our results, we propose the seven traits as dimensions to consider for organizations recruiting agile software testers, as well as a reference for IT and non-IT professionals considering a software-testing career.

Scaling up a National Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Referral Service for adult patients in acute severe respiratory failure at the time of a pandemic

The National ECMO Service for patients in acute severe respiratory failure in England responded to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic by implementing a central electronic referral system within days. Prior to this, each ECMO centre managed independently around 20 ECMO referrals per month. Early during the pandemic, we recognised the need for a referral system to co-ordinate the anticipated increased number of referrals. We implemented rapidly a referral system with universal access across England. This allowed the five National ECMO centres to manage over 1000 referrals in the first seven weeks of the pandemic. Key benefits of the new system included facilitated communication and collaboration between centres; data on demand; and capacity shared in real-time. We believe this was instrumental in allowing us to continue to provide for the whole country, respond at scale, and facilitate our collaborative work as a multidisciplinary team.

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Development of a Cancer Stem Cell Microenvironment Niche and Potential Therapeutic Targets

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have increasingly been shown to be a crucial element of heterogenous tumors. Although a relatively small component of the population, they increase the resistance to treatment and the likelihood of recurrence. In recent years, it has been shown, across multiple cancer types (e.g., colorectal, breast and prostate), that reciprocal communication between cancer and the microenvironment exists, which is, in part, facilitated by extracellular vesicles (EVs). However, the mechanisms of this method of communication and its influence on CSC populations is less well-understood. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to determine the evidence that supports the role of EVs in the manipulation of the tumor microenvironment to promote the survival of CSCs. Embase and PubMed were used to identify all studies on the topic, which were screened using PRISMA guidelines, resulting in the inclusion of 16 studies. These 16 studies reported on the EV content, pathways altered by EVs and therapeutic targeting of CSC through EV-mediated changes to the microenvironment. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated the role of EV-facilitated communication in maintaining CSCs via manipulation of the tumor microenvironment, demonstrating the potential of creating therapeutics to target CSCs. However, further works are needed to fully understand the targetable mechanisms upon which future therapeutics can be based.

You Have One New Message

Knitting is often practiced as a group activity that takes place in the domestic environment. Besides the collectivity, using motifs with meanings has also facilitated communication between people. Building on these ideas, a workshop was designed to facilitate discussions about everyday concerns or experiences, both on personal and societal levels, to strengthen communication with the self and others. In the workshop, the thirteen participants were asked to design a motif to convey a message to themselves, to the group or to the society. Through a group discussion, the motifs stemming from personal experiences were knitted, shared and discussed. The topics emerging from the workshop indicates that knitting affords intimate exchanges between the self and others, and connects people by facilitating socio-political discussions, such as on environmental sustainability, women rights and self-development.

Формиране на комуникативни умения при деца с множество увреждания по метода на фасилитиращата комуникаци

Статията е посветена на ресурсите на фасилитиращата (облекчаваща) комуникация (Facilitated communication), намираща широко приложение в качеството на един от алтернативните методи за общуване и взаимодействие при деца с множество нарушения. Световният опит по отношение на прилаганата алтернативна стратегия чрез използване на компютъра за формиране на умения за преднамерена комуникация при децата с атипично развитие дава основание за формулиране на изводи относно ползите на технологията за развитие на писмената комуникация. Представено е експериментално изследване на автора, в което участват 24 деца с множество нарушения с изявена аутистична симптоматика. Резултатите отразяват изразена възходяща динамика в развитието на комуникативните умения чрез самостоятелното опериране с клавиатурата на компютъра за кодиране на писмена информация. Доказва се, че методът на фасилитиращата комуникация определено намира място в обучението и общуването на деца със специфични комуникативни потребности.

A New Materialisms Poetics of Touch: David Eastham’s Understand: 50 Memowriter Poems

Although often mentioned in summarial histories of “first” authors with autism, the work of the Canadian David Eastham has not been analyzed at the level of form to date. Using Melanie Yergeau’s scholarship challenging the ruling episteme of biomedicine when it comes to neurodivergence, this paper considers biographical elements of Eastham’s life to confirm biomedical primacy in the accounts made by others. Then Eastham’s own work undergoes formal analysis to show how Eastham’s own words resisted the episteme while, even today, those means of those same words, provided by the contested practise of Facilitated Communication, are challenged by biomedicine. The method of close reading is used to interpret Eastham’s work, as guided by the theory inherent to new materialisms. The result is exposing an uncomfortable match between medical models and the alternative embodiment concept when it comes to interpreting the poetry of disabled people.

Evidence of Authorship on Messages in Facilitated Communication: A Case Report Using Accelerometry

Facilitated communication (FC) belongs to augmentative and alternative methods of communication. Currently, FC is very rarely and unofficially used with people suffering from verbal/communicative disorders or neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual deficiency or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). FC consists of physical support exerted by a facilitator at the hand/wrist/forearm/elbow of a patient/participant, aimed at helping him/her to point at pictures/words, and sometimes to type letters/words on a keyboard. Given most of (but not all) validation studies using control procedures failed to confirm that ASD participants themselves were authoring the messages via FC, this method has been massively disputed and rejected. However, firm and definitive conclusions for/against the validity of FC requires more robust demonstrations, particularly when considering the motor participation of both protagonists. We present here a case report investigating the motor contribution of both protagonists during a typing process using the non-invasive technique of accelerometry. A 17-year-old boy diagnosed with congenital deafness, ASD, and developmental delay, and his facilitator, were equipped with small accelerometers fixed on their index finger, aimed at transforming index acceleration along the three spatial axes into electric signals. Typing on a PC keyboard was performed under three support conditions: hand support, forearm support, elbow support, plus a solo-typing condition. Accelerometric signals and video data were recorded during four FC sessions. We measured and compared the typing speed, the number/percentage of acceleration peaks produced by the participant or by the facilitator first, and those of “signal under detection threshold” in the facilitator, the time offset between acceleration peaks of both protagonists, and the difference of the amount of acceleration between them, across the different support conditions. Results indicate that in the hand support, most of the time, acceleration motions of the participant's index finger preceded those of the facilitator's index finger. Then, the more distal the physical support (i.e., farer from the participant's hand), the slower the speed of typing, the higher the percentage of “signal under detection threshold” in the facilitator, the bigger the motor contribution from the participant. Altogether, in all the support conditions, the participant's authorship or, at least, co-authorship on the messages seems warranted. Finally, accelerometry seems relevant to objectivize authorship or co-authorship in FC and delineate various forms of FC.