Forgiven: Creating the Role of Elizabeth Proctor

The following documents my process of creating the role of Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller\u27s The Crucible. It follows the audition process, table work sessions and my own personal and detailed journal entries I kept in rehearsals while creating this role

Questions to Ask Before You Join a Club

Despite the recent flurry of large transactions in which a consortium of private equity firms have teamed up to make joint bids and acquisitions, “club deals” themselves are not breaking news. In fact, they have been a staple of small- and middle-sized private equity M&A transactions for years. Recently, however, there has been a growing trend toward large club deals with enterprise values over $1 billion.1 Due to their size, complexity and, often, international dimension, these transactions have generated considerable attention in the business press and have prompted much discussion among private equity professionals and the limited partners whose money they manage

Questions to Ask Before You Join a Club

Despite the recent flurry of large transactions in which a consortium of private equity firms have teamed up to make joint bids and acquisitions, “club deals” themselves are not breaking news. In fact, they have been a staple of small- and middle-sized private equity M&A transactions for years. Recently, however, there has been a growing trend toward large club deals with enterprise values over $1 billion.1 Due to their size, complexity and, often, international dimension, these transactions have generated considerable attention in the business press and have prompted much discussion among private equity professionals and the limited partners whose money they manage

Data-driven Iterative Refinements to Educational Development Services: Directly Measuring the Impacts of Consultations on Course and Syllabus Design

Evidence-based practice in educational development includes leveraging data to iteratively refine center for teaching and learning (CTL) services. However, CTL data collection is often limited to counts and satisfaction surveys rather than direct measures of outcomes. To directly assess impacts of consultations on course and syllabus design, we analyzed 94 clients’ syllabi (32 faculty, 62 graduate students and postdocs) before and after consultations. Faculty and non-faculty clients demonstrated significant change following consultations (6% and 10% gains in syllabus rubric scores, representing 50% and 31% of possible gains and effect sizes of 0.73 and 1.04 standard deviations, respectively). We compared faculty clients to quasi-experimental control groups that did not receive consultations. Syllabi from non-clients scored lower and did not demonstrate similar changes across semesters. Attendance at a CTL seminar on course and syllabus design did not explain variation in clients’ syllabi. We discuss implications for assessment of CTL services and how we leveraged formative assessments to inform and iteratively refine our educational development practices

Thin-Sliced Embedded Direct Assessment (T-SEDA): Measuring Impacts of Development Workshops on Participants' Learning Gains

How can educational developers best formatively assess impacts of their services? Standard practices tend to rely on indirect measures, such as counts of participants and feedback surveys. This paper responds to recent calls for more robust approaches directly measuring outcomes. We describe how to implement a new, transferable, evidence-based approach for directly measuring instructors’ learning gains within and across educational development workshops: the Thin-Slice Embedded Direct Assessment (T-SEDA) Process. Although this approach does not measure longterm retention of learning or effects on future teaching behaviors, it significantly enhanced our toolkit for formatively assessing educational development workshops. Through case studies, we illustrate principles underlying our approach, impacts on instructors’ learning, and how we iteratively refine our programs and practices using the T-SEDA process. We also discuss lessons learned for fostering an inclusive, collaborative culture of formative assessment among educational developers

A transient cortical state with sleep-like sensory responses precedes emergence from general anesthesia in humans

During awake consciousness, the brain intrinsically maintains a dynamical state in which it can coordinate complex responses to sensory input. How the brain reaches this state spontaneously is not known. General anesthesia provides a unique opportunity to examine how the human brain recovers its functional capabilities after profound unconsciousness. We used intracranial electrocorticography and scalp EEG in humans to track neural dynamics during emergence from propofol general anesthesia. We identify a distinct transient brain state that occurs immediately prior to recovery of behavioral responsiveness. This state is characterized by large, spatially distributed, slow sensory-evoked potentials that resemble the K-complexes that are hallmarks of stage two sleep. However, the ongoing spontaneous dynamics in this transitional state differ from sleep. These results identify an asymmetry in the neurophysiology of induction and emergence, as the emerging brain can enter a state with a sleep-like sensory blockade before regaining responsivity to arousing stimuli.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant K99-MH111748)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R00-NS080911)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant DP2-OD006454)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant S10-RR023401)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01- NS062092)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01AG056015)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P01GM118269)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01-EB009282

A risk prediction model for the assessment and triage of women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in low-resourced settings: the miniPIERS (Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk) multi-country prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia are leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, particularly in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). We developed the miniPIERS risk prediction model to provide a simple, evidence-based tool to identify pregnant women in LMICs at increased risk of death or major hypertensive-related complications. METHODS AND FINDINGS: From 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2012, in five LMICs, data were collected prospectively on 2,081 women with any hypertensive disorder of pregnancy admitted to a participating centre. Candidate predictors collected within 24 hours of admission were entered into a step-wise backward elimination logistic regression model to predict a composite adverse maternal outcome within 48 hours of admission. Model internal validation was accomplished by bootstrapping and external validation was completed using data from 1,300 women in the Pre-eclampsia Integrated Estimate of RiSk (fullPIERS) dataset. Predictive performance was assessed for calibration, discrimination, and stratification capacity. The final miniPIERS model included: parity (nulliparous versus multiparous); gestational age on admission; headache/visual disturbances; chest pain/dyspnoea; vaginal bleeding with abdominal pain; systolic blood pressure; and dipstick proteinuria. The miniPIERS model was well-calibrated and had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC ROC) of 0.768 (95% CI 0.735-0.801) with an average optimism of 0.037. External validation AUC ROC was 0.713 (95% CI 0.658-0.768). A predicted probability ≥25% to define a positive test classified women with 85.5% accuracy. Limitations of this study include the composite outcome and the broad inclusion criteria of any hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. This broad approach was used to optimize model generalizability. CONCLUSIONS: The miniPIERS model shows reasonable ability to identify women at increased risk of adverse maternal outcomes associated with the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. It could be used in LMICs to identify women who would benefit most from interventions such as magnesium sulphate, antihypertensives, or transportation to a higher level of care

Standard Colonic Lavage Alters the Natural State of Mucosal-Associated Microbiota in the Human Colon

Past studies of the human intestinal microbiota are potentially confounded by the common practice of using bowel-cleansing preparations. We examined if colonic lavage changes the natural state of enteric mucosal-adherent microbes in healthy human subjects.Twelve healthy individuals were divided into three groups; experimental group, control group one, and control group two. Subjects in the experimental group underwent an un-prepped flexible sigmoidoscopy with biopsies. Within two weeks, subjects were given a standard polyethylene glycol-based bowel cleansing preparation followed by a second flexible sigmoidoscopy. Subjects in control group one underwent two un-prepped flexible sigmoidoscopies within one week. Subjects in the second control group underwent an un-prepped flexible sigmoidoscopy followed by a second flexible sigmoidoscopy after a 24-hour clear liquid diet within one week. The mucosa-associated microbial communities from the two procedures in each subject were compared using 16S rRNA gene based terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), and library cloning and sequencing.Clone library sequencing analysis showed that there were changes in the composition of the mucosa-associated microbiota in subjects after colonic lavage. These changes were not observed in our control groups. Standard bowel preparation altered the diversity of mucosa-associated microbiota. Taxonomic classification did not reveal significant changes at the phylum level, but there were differences observed at the genus level.Standard bowel cleansing preparation altered the mucosal-adherent microbiota in all of our subjects, although the degree of change was variable. These findings underscore the importance of considering the confounding effects of bowel preparation when designing experiments exploring the gut microbiota

Salivary and lacrimal dysfunction after radioactive iodine for differentiated thyroid cancer: American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Surgery Section and Salivary Gland Section joint multidisciplinary clinical consensus statement of otolaryngology, ophthalmology, nuclear medicine and endocrinology

BackgroundPostoperative radioactive iodine (RAI) administration is widely utilized in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. While beneficial in select patients, it is critical to recognize the potential negative sequelae of this treatment. The prevention, diagnosis, and management of the salivary and lacrimal complications of RAI exposure are addressed in this consensus statement.MethodsA multidisciplinary panel of experts was convened under the auspices of the American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Surgery and Salivary Gland Sections. Following a comprehensive literature review to assess the current best evidence, this group developed six relevant consensus recommendations.ResultsConsensus recommendations on RAI were made in the areas of patient assessment, optimal utilization, complication prevention, and complication management.ConclusionSalivary and lacrimal complications secondary to RAI exposure are common and need to be weighed when considering its use. The recommendations included in this statement provide direction for approaches to minimize and manage these complications.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163491/2/hed26417.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163491/1/hed26417_am.pd