To achieve a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, the United Nations has defined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including economic, social, and environmental sustainability as three pillars. This thesis work is aimed at building a sustainability evaluation framework to investigate the product, which in this study is transformer insulating liquid. What’s more, this study focuses on the sustainability evaluation of the extraction step of the raw material which is crude oil and vegetable oil for insulating liquids. The evaluation method is based on the triangular fuzzy number variables, which represent the ambiguity of linguistic variables. Meanwhile, the sustainable development goals are discussed and developed into feasible evaluation criteria. According to the defined criteria, the performance of each indicator is taken from published literature, reports, and official organization. After that, the sustainability index of each oil is calculated and compared, thus a general sustainable result is given. The result shows that mineral oil is more sustainable than vegetable oil only in economic sustainability, while in other aspects including the overall aspect vegetable oil is more sustainable than mineral oil. Among that, mineral oil performs most weakly in environmental sustainability, while vegetable oil is in economic sustainability. Furthermore, the framework designed is expected to be used to evaluate the entire life cycle of a product and can be referred to in future supply chain improvement, since more indexes can be developed based on the mathematics fuzzy number calculation principle. / För att uppnå en gemensam plan för fred och välstånd för människor och planeten har FN definierat 2030-agendan för hållbar utveckling, inklusive ekonomisk, social och miljömässig hållbarhet, som tre pelare. Detta examensarbete syftar till att bygga ett ramverk för hållbarhetsutvärdering för att undersöka produkten, som i denna studie är transformatorisoleringsvätska. Dessutom fokuserar denna studie på hållbarhetsutvärderingen av utvinningssteget av råmaterialet som är råolja och vegetabilisk olja för isolerande vätskor. Utvärderingsmetoden är baserad på de triangulära luddiga talvariablerna, som representerar tvetydigheten hos språkliga variabler. Samtidigt diskuteras målen för hållbar utveckling och utvecklas till genomförbara utvärderingskriterier. Enligt de definierade kriterierna är prestandan för varje indikator hämtad från publicerad litteratur, rapporter och officiell organisation. Därefter beräknas och jämförs hållbarhetsindexet för varje olja, vilket ger ett generellt hållbart resultat. Resultatet visar att mineralolja är mer hållbar än vegetabilisk olja endast i ekonomisk hållbarhet, medan i andra aspekter inklusive den övergripande aspekten är vegetabilisk olja mer hållbar än mineralolja. Bland annat presterar mineralolja sämst i miljömässig hållbarhet, medan vegetabilisk olja har ekonomisk hållbarhet. Dessutom förväntas det utformade ramverket användas för att utvärdera hela livscykeln för en produkt och kan hänvisas till i framtida förbättringar av försörjningskedjan, eftersom fler index kan utvecklas baserat på matematikens luddiga talberäkningsprincip.

Latin America has experienced a new militarization in the last five years despite its history filled with military dictatorships and authoritarian governments. Due to their high rates of violence and crime worldwide, the countries with the most severe militarization process are Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Therefore, this work seeks to find the relationship between the militarization of public security in the four countries.  To address the research question posed by this study, a mixed methodology based on quantitative and qualitative data was employed in conjunction with the theoretical framework of policy diffusion, a subdiscipline of International Relations that has gained relevancy for the past two decades. The findings indicated that a diffusion process occurred in multiple dimensions, first involving the United States and stemming from the interaction between the four countries. Furthermore, this work discusses the relationship between the diffusion process among the four countries with international norms.

CAPITULO 1 â Perfil dos carpinteiros artesanais de embarcaÃÃes a vela do litoral do estado do Cearà No contexto mundial, durante o sÃculo XV, a construÃÃo naval das embarcaÃÃes veleiras passaram por evoluÃÃes que propiciaram o empreendimento de grandes viagens. Chegando ao Brasil iniciou-se um longo processo de interaÃÃo construtiva das embarcaÃÃes locais com o conhecimento europeu. As jangadas inicialmente construÃdas sem velas evoluÃram e se propagaram por todo o nordeste e, principalmente no Cearà como embarcaÃÃo de pesca artesanal, evoluindo das jangadas de troncos Ãs atuais de tÃbuas, assim como ocorreu evoluÃÃo construtiva artesanal das canoas e botes. O litoral cearense foi percorrido no perÃodo de setembro de 2010 a maio de 2012, identificando-se in loco os tipos de embarcaÃÃes construÃdas, e localizando e entrevistando construtores artesanais de embarcaÃÃes a vela, foco principal deste trabalho. Foram entrevistados 36 carpinteiros de comprovado reconhecimento local, que responderam questionÃrio estruturado com perguntas direcionadas diretamente à identificaÃÃo do construtor artesanal, seu perfil profissional e da sua arte construtiva, permitindo registros fotogrÃficos, filmagens e gravaÃÃes. Os dados de cada questionÃrio foram transcritos para planilhas eletrÃnicas e analisadas, combinando com as gravaÃÃes de entrevistas transcritas e das filmagens. A pesquisa constatou a baixa escolaridade dos carpinteiros artesanais entrevistados, com 44% de alfabetizados e 42% de analfabetos; a inexistÃncia de qualquer registro construtivo empregado; mÃdia de idade; media de tempo de trabalho e frequÃncia da distribuiÃÃo do tempo de trabalho entre os carpinteiros entrevistados; influÃncia e origem do aprendizado e ausÃncia de enquadramento funcional destes jà que nÃo se aposentam como construtores artesanais. Resultados importantes foram obtidos sobre o perfil do carpinteiro artesanal cearense, considerados importantes para a manutenÃÃo da tradiÃÃo cultural de suas tÃcnicas aplicadas à construÃÃo de embarcaÃÃes a vela, e que compÃem o patrimÃnio histÃrico e socioeconÃmico do estado. CAPITULO 2 â A construÃÃo dos diferentes tipos de embarcaÃÃes a vela do litoral do estado do Cearà As embarcaÃÃes a vela sÃo usadas na pesca desde a Idade MÃdia e foram introduzidas no Brasil no inÃcio do descobrimento. No CearÃ, a frota veleira à constituÃda por jangadas, paquetes, canoas e botes, e este estudo objetivou descrever os aspectos e processo construtivos destas embarcaÃÃes, e verificar a existÃncia de diferenciaÃÃo entre localidades quanto aos custos, tempo de construÃÃo, materiais, ferramentas manuais, posicionamento dos mastros com os tipos e tamanhos de vela e elaboraÃÃo de planos de linhas. A metodologia constou de levantamentos de dados in loco, no perÃodo de maio 2010 a dezembro de 2012, com entrevistas com 36 carpinteiros artesanais em 25 localidades de praia de dezoito municÃpios, e aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrios e registros por gravaÃÃo, fotografia e filmagem. O mÃtodo construtivo adotado pelos construtores à o do âesqueleto primeiroâ, ao qual os diversos componentes sÃo acrescentados. O principio para a construÃÃo dos botes triÃngulo e bastardo à o mesmo adotado por toda a forÃa de trabalho, que sÃo idÃnticos no aspecto construtivo e de estrutura de casco, diferem no tipo de mastro e vela, tendo o bastardo um mastro fixo com vela latina bastarda e o bote triÃngulo vela latina triangular. Os custos de construÃÃo variam em ordem decrescente para botes, jangadas, canoas e paquetes, determinados pelo comprimento da embarcaÃÃo e tipo de madeira. Pontualmente, registrou-se em Bitupità a existÃncia da vela quadrangular latina, denominada de âvela quatro punhosâ, envergada em mastro bastardo nas canoas de curral. CAPITULO 3 â A navegaÃÃo praticada por mestres marcadores nas embarcaÃÃes a vela no estado do Cearà A orientaÃÃo praticada a bordo de embarcaÃÃes veleiras para navegaÃÃo e pesca utiliza referÃncias de terra para compor as linhas de posiÃÃo denominadas caminho e assento que, ao se cruzarem, determinam o local desejado. Esta atividade vem acontecendo desde a existÃncia da jangada de piÃba e se perpetua por transmissÃo entre geraÃÃes. O estudo foi desenvolvido com mestres marcadores de trÃs localidades, Baleia, Fortaleza e Redonda, onde predominam canoas, jangadas e botes, respectivamente. A prÃtica desta modalidade de navegaÃÃo à idÃntica para os diferentes tipos de embarcaÃÃo e diferem pouco entre as localidades estudadas. O exercÃcio da orientaÃÃo exige que o mestre marcador tenha boa visÃo e memÃria para encontrar caminho e assento, alÃm de sofrer restriÃÃes na ausÃncia da luz solar. Essa atividade à iniciada pelos marcadores ainda na juventude, e esses conhecimentos sÃo adquiridos independentes do grau de instruÃÃo e se consolidam tanto pelo exercÃcio da pesca quando pela experiÃncia adquirida. A observaÃÃo de estrelas e planetas revela a direÃÃo do caminho de volta ao porto de origem tendo a estrela do porto vÃrias denominaÃÃes no litoral cearense. A falta de visibilidade do litoral, ocasionada por chuva, cerraÃÃo ou outros fatores, interfere negativamente na identificaÃÃo de pontos de referÃncia existentes no litoral. A marcaÃÃo terrestre vem sendo gradativamente substituÃda pelo uso do GPS na localizaÃÃo dos pesqueiros mais produtivos, com grande aceitaÃÃo pelos mais jovens. O baixo preÃo e eficiÃncia comprovada desse equipamento tÃm justificado sua difusÃo ao longo de todo o litoral do CearÃ. CAPITULO 4 â EmbarcaÃÃes a vela do litoral do estado do CearÃ, distribuiÃÃo espacial da frota e da produÃÃo pesqueira O Cearà possui 573 km de litoral, distribuÃdo por 20 municÃpios costeiros e conta com 113 localidades de pesca estuarina e marinha. Este estudo se baseia nos seguintes dados estatÃsticos do Programa ESTATPESCA a- composiÃÃo da frota por tipo de barco e municÃpio; b- produÃÃo de pescado por tipo de barco e municÃpio; c- produÃÃo das principais espÃcies de peixe por tipo de embarcaÃÃo. Foi feita a descriÃÃo das caracterÃsticas das embarcaÃÃes a vela do Cearà de uma forma mais detalhada que as dividiu em jangadas ocada e de isopor; paquetes ocado e de isopor; canoa de Paracuru; canoa de Moitas-Baleia; canoa de Camocim (bianas); Canoa de Acarau-PreÃ-BitupitÃ; canoas de currais de BitupitÃ; canoa-paquete de Fleixeiras-Guagiru e botes triangulo e bastardo. Os resultados mostram que os paquetes sÃo maioria numÃrica e com maior distribuiÃÃo geogrÃfica, destacam-se pela versatilidade, por serem leves para encalhe e movimentaÃÃo na faixa de praia, pela necessidade de pequena tripulaÃÃo e baixo custo de construÃÃo e manutenÃÃo. Os botes tÃm a menor abrangÃncia territorial, com o bastardo bem concentrados em Camocim e o triÃngulo com maior concentraÃÃo em IcapuÃ. A canoa tem predominÃncia exclusiva no litoral oeste e a jangada, no litoral leste. Em termos relativos, as embarcaÃÃes participaram da captura nas seguintes proporÃÃes: canoas = 45,3 %; paquete = 22,3 %; botes = 22,4%, destacando-se os municÃpios de Camocim, Itarema, Icapuà e AcaraÃ. Estes tÃm produÃÃo mais seleta, capturando espÃcies de maior valor comercial, a saber guaiÃba, cavala, pargo, sirigado, carapitanga e dourado. As jangadas vÃm perdendo importÃncia relativa na captura do pescado, mas ainda com destaque para os municÃpios de Fortaleza, Aquiraz, Beberibe Cascavel e Aracati. / CHAPTER 1 â Profile of the artisanal carpenters of sail crafts in Cearà State In a worldwide scenario, during the XV Century, the naval building of sail craft underwent an evolutionary development that enabled the undertaking of long-length voyages across the oceans. By arriving at Brazil, an intensive interaction process between local sail boat construction and that of European-derived knowledge. The sail rafts, at first built without sail, were deployed over the whole Brazilian northeast, mainly in Cearà State, as artisanal crafts, evolving from simple dugouts to the actual wooden ones as well as canoes and rowboats. For this research work, the Cearà Stateâs coast was surveyed from September, 2010 to May, 2012, taking in situ stock of all types of constructed crafts, and pinpointing and interviewing artisanal builders of sailboats, who are than main target population of this survey. To this aim, 36 accomplished carpenters, locally recognized as such, were required to answer a number of questionnaires directed toward a full appraisal of the artisanal naval builders, its professional profile and handicraft, for which photographic records, pictures and sound recordings were obtained. The derived data were transferred to electronic spreadsheets and then analyzed by crosschecking the recorded interviews and the movie pictures. This survey led to the following results: occurrence of low reading ability by the artisanal carpenters so that 44 per cent were found to be illiterate; non-existence of any kind of professional registration by the competent public offices; mean age of 22.1 years; high mean working time and frequency of distribution among the sampled population; factors of influence and origin of learning techniques and absence of functional framing, since they to do not retire as naval builders. Significant results were got as to the artisanal carpentersâs profile in Cearà State, which were deemed quite relevant for the maintenance of the folklore of their techniques applied to the construction of sail crafts, and round up the historic and socioeconomic heritage of the Cearà Stateâs coastline . CHAPTER 2 â Construction of different types of sail craft along Cearà Stateâs coastline The sailboats are used in fisheries since the middle ages and were introduced in Brazil at the beginning of its discovery. The Cearà Stateâs fleet is made up of rafts, canoes and boats whose study was meant for describing aspects of the building process and for ascertaining the existence of differentiation among fishing communities as to costs, construction time, basic materials, hand tools and positioning of masts according to boat size, sail types and setting of lining patterns. The methodology consisted of data surveys carried out locally, in the period from May, 2010 through December, 2012, by means of interviews with 36 artisanal carpenters in 25 fishing sites of 18 costal counties, by applying questionnaires and data gathering by recording, photography and movie pictures. The constructive technique consists of mounting a âprimary skeletonâ to which all other component parts are attached. The building principle of the triangle and bastard boats is the same as adopted by the whole of the labor force, which are identical as to their constructive pattern and hull framework, but differ as to the types of masts ands sails, namely the bastard one having a fixed mast and a storm jib, and the triangle one having a triangular storm jib. The construction costs vary in a decreasing order for boats, rafts and canoes, as determined by the craft length and kind of timber. Somewhat exceptionally there was identified in BitupitÃ, Barroquinha county, the existence of a square storm jib named âfour-fist sailâ, bent up as a bastard mast in the fish-weir canoes. CHAPTER 3 â The navigation practiced by master position markers on board sail boats in Cearà State The orientation carried out on board sailboats for navigation and fishing makes use of landmarks in order to compose the position lines named pathway and outpost that, while intercrossing, determine the sought after site. This activity has been taking place since the very early existence of the sail raft and it endures itself from generation to generation. This study was undertaken by master markers in some fishing localities, namely Baleia, Fortaleza and Redonda where canoes, sail rafts and boats are respectively predominant. The practice of this kind of navigation is similar for the various types of boats and diverges from one another very little among the studied landing points. The exercise of orientation requires that the master marker has got good eyesight and memory in order to find out the pathway and the outpost, besides undergoing setbacks from the absence of sunlight. That activity is started when the fisherman is still young, and his long-lived expertise is acquired independently of the educational degree as it is derived from both the fishing chores and the accumulated experience. The observation of stars and planets reveals the way back to the home port whose identifying star receives many nominations along Cearà Stateâs coastline. The lack of visibility brought about by rain, clouding, and other factors meddle with the identification of conspicuous landmarks. This age- old technique has been gradually replaced by the use of GPS devices for pinpointing the most productive fishing grounds, with a high degree of acceptance by the young generation. The low purchase price and the proved efficiency of that equipment has accounted for the diffusion of their advantages among the fishing communities of Cearà State. CHAPTER 4 â Sail crafts in Cearà Stateâs coastline: fleet and fishing production spatial distribution The Cearà Stateâs coastline spreads over 573 km distributed by 20 coastal counties, and 113 estuarine and marine fishing communities. This study is based on the following statistical data gathered through the ESTATPESCA Program: fleet composition by types of boat and county; fish production by type of boat and county; catch composition of the main fish species by type of boat. A detailed description of the sailboats in Cearà was presented in order to provide information on a number of variants of their main types, namely hollow raft, styrofoam-fulled rafts, canoe from Paracuru, canoe from Moitas-Baleia; canoe from Camocim; canoe from AcaraÃ-PreÃ-BitupitÃ; canoe from Bitupità fish-weirs, canoe-raft from Fleixeiras-Guagiru, triangle boat and bastard boat. The results show the small raft holds a numeric majority and a wider geographic distribution, standing out by being lighter to anchor on the beach sand, requiring fewer crew, and entailing lower construction and maintenance costs. The boats show a narrower territorial range, with the bastard ones being concentrated in Camocim county and the triangle ones more frequent in Icapuà county. The canoe and the large-sized raft hold an outstanding predominance on the western and the eastern sides of Cearà Stateâs coastline, respectively. In relative terms, the main types of fishing craft took part in the caches according to the following proportions: canoes = 45.3 per cent; small raft = 22.3 per cent; boats = 22.4 per cent. Among their home counties stand out Camocim, Itarema, Icapuà and AcaraÃ, the ones that boast a more exclusive fish production made out of such species as yellowtail snapper, king mackerel, Caribbean red snapper, black grouper, dog snapper and dolphin. The large-sized rafts have shown of late a tendency for playing a lesser part in fish catching, but they are still relevant in such Cearà Stateâs counties as Fortaleza, Aquiraz, Beberibe Cascavel and Aracati.

Three-level diode-clamped inverter is being widely used these days. Extensive research has been carried out on pulse width modulation (PWM) strategies for a three-level inverter. The most widely used PWM strategies are sine-triangle pulse width modulation (SPWM) and centered space vector pulse width modulation (CSVPWM). The influence of these PWM strategies on the DC-link capacitor current and voltage ripple is studied in this thesis. The sizing of the DC capacitor depends on value of the maximum RMS current flowing through it. In this work, an analytical expression for capacitor RMS current is derived as a function of operating conditions like modulation index, power factor angle of the load and peak load current. The worst case current stress on the capacitor is evaluated using the analytical expression. The capacitor RMS current is found to be the same in SPWM and CSVPWM schemes. The analytical expression is validated through simulations and experiments on a 3kVA MOSFET based three-level inverter. Harmonic analysis of the capacitor current is helpful in better evaluation of capacitor power loss. Therefore, harmonic analysis of the capacitor current is carried out, using the techniques of geometric wall model and double Fourier integral for SPWM and CSVPWM schemes. The theoretical predictions are validated through experiments. The capacitor RMS current is divided into low-frequency RMS current (where low frequency component is defined as a component whose frequency is less than half the switching frequency) and high-frequency RMS current. The capacitor voltage ripple is estimated analytically for SPWM and CSVPWM schemes, using the low-frequency and high-frequency capacitor RMS current. The voltage ripples due to SPWM and CSVPWM schemes are compared. It is found that the voltage ripple with SPWM is higher than that with CSVPWM. A simplified method to estimate the capacitor power loss, without the requirement of FFT analysis of capacitor current, is proposed. The results from this simplified method agree reasonably well with the results from the detailed method. A space vector based modulation scheme is proposed, which reduces the capacitor RMS current at high power factor angles. However, the proposed method leads to higher total harmonic distortion (THD) than CSVPWM. Simulation and experimental results, comparing CSVPWM and the proposed PWM, are presented.

In computer graphics we can handle unstructured triangular 3D meshes which are not too usable for processing through their irregularity. In these situations it occurs need of conversion that 3D mesh to more suitable representation. Some kind of 3D spline surface can be proper alternative because it institutes regularity in the form of control points grid and that's why it is more suitable for next processing. During conversion, which is described in this thesis, quadrilateral 3D mesh is constructed at first. This mesh has regular structure but mainly the structure corresponds to structure of control points grid of resulting 3D spline surface. Created quadrilateral 3D mesh can be saved and consequently used in specific modeling applications for T-spline surface creation.

On dénombre plus de 40 000 cas de morts subites en France, chaque année. Depuis le début des années 2000, le défibrillateur automatique implantable (DAI) est prescrit de manière prophylactique aux populations à risque. Nombre de ces implantations semblent prématurées : une étude récente a révélé que 81% des DAI implantés chez les patients étudiés n'ont jamais délivré de thérapie pendant les cinq années suivant l'implantation. Cette constatation soulève un problème en raison des complications post-opératoires encourues par les patients porteurs d'un défibrillateur implantable. Avec la rupture de sonde, les chocs électriques engendrés inutilement (c'est-à-dire lorsque la vie du patient n'est pas menacée) par le défibrillateur sont les complications les plus fréquentes : des études ont montré que 13% à 17% des patients porteurs d'un défibrillateur implanté ont subi au moins un choc inutile, susceptible de fragiliser le tissu cardiaque. Il apparaît donc important de mieux définir la population à risque de mort subite, afin d'optimiser la sélection des patients candidats. Le pouvoir prédictif de mort subite des différents descripteurs des enregistrements électrocardiographiques de longue durée (Holter) a fait l'objet de nombreuses études univariées, sans permettre d'amélioration des critères de sélection. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons l'analyse multivariée des descripteurs de l'enregistrement Holter que nous avons menée. Nous avons extrait l'ensemble des descripteurs calculables sur la base étiquetée d'enregistrements Holter de patients, victimes ou non d'arythmies traitées par le DAI, dont nous disposons. En mettant à profit les connaissances physiologiques sur l'arythmogenèse, nous avons réalisé une sélection des descripteurs les plus pertinents. Puis, à l'aide d'une méthode originale de conception et d'évaluation de classifieur, nous avons construit un classifieur ad hoc, basé, lui aussi, sur les connaissances physiologiques de l'arythmogenèse ; ce classifieur discrimine les patients à risque (pour lesquels il recommande l'implantation), des patients pour lesquels l'implantation ne paraît pas opportune. À l'issue de notre étude, et au vu des performances atteintes, il semble possible d'améliorer la fiabilité des indications d'implantation prophylactique, à l'aide de méthodes d'apprentissage statistique. Pour valider cette conclusion, il paraît néanmoins nécessaire d'appliquer la méthode exposée dans la présente étude à une base de données de plus grande dimension, et de contenu mieux adapté à nos objectifs.

<p>Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been described in a range of educational contexts. Although various learning objectives, termed anticipated learning outcomes (ALOs) in this project, have been proposed, processes for identifying them may not be rigorous or well-documented, which can lead to inappropriate assessment and speculation about what students actually learn from CUREs. Additionally, evaluation of CUREs has primarily relied on student and instructor perception data rather than more reliable measures of learning.This dissertation investigated a novel biochemistry laboratory curriculum for a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) known as the Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL). Students participating in this CURE use a combination of computational and biochemical wet-lab techniques to elucidate the function of proteins of known structure but unknown function. The goal of the project was to evaluate the efficacy of the BASIL CURE curriculum for developing students’ research abilities across implementations. Towards achieving this goal, we addressed the following four research questions (RQs): <b>RQ1</b>) How can ALOs be rigorously identified for the BASIL CURE; <b>RQ2</b>) How can the identified ALOs be used to develop a matrix that characterizes the BASIL CURE; <b>RQ3</b>) What are students’ perceptions of their knowledge, confidence and competence regarding their abilities to perform the top-rated ALOs for this CURE; <b>RQ4</b>) What are appropriate assessments for student achievement of the identified ALOs and what is the nature of student learning, and related difficulties, developed by students during the BASIL CURE? To address these RQs, this project focused on the development and use of qualitative and quantitative methods guided by constructivism and situated cognition theoretical frameworks. Data was collected using a range of instruments including, content analysis, Qualtrics surveys, open-ended questions and interviews, in order to identify ALOs and to determine student learning for the BASIL CURE. Analysis of the qualitative data was through inductive coding guided by the concept-reasoning-mode (CRM) model and the assessment triangle, while analysis of quantitative data was done by using standard statistical techniques (e.g. conducting a parried t-test and effect size). The results led to the development of a novel method for identifying ALOs, namely a process for identifying course-based undergraduate research abilities (PICURA; RQ1; Irby, Pelaez, & Anderson 2018b). Application of PICURA to the BASIL CURE resulted in the identification and rating by instructors of a wide range of ALOs, termed course-based undergraduate research abilities (CURAs), which were formulated into a matrix (RQs 2; Irby, Pelaez, & Anderson, 2018a,). The matrix was, in turn, used to characterize the BASIL CURE and to inform the design of student assessments aimed at evaluating student development of the identified CURAs (RQs 4; Irby, Pelaez, & Anderson, 2018a). Preliminary findings from implementation of the open-ended assessments in a small case study of students, revealed a range of student competencies for selected top-rated CURAs as well as evidence for student difficulties (RQ4). In this way we were able to confirm that students are developing some of the ALOs as actual learning outcomes which we term VLOs or verified learning outcomes. In addition, a participant perception indicator (PPI) survey was used to gauge students’ perceptions of their gains in knowledge, experience, and confidence during the BASIL CURE and, therefore, to inform which CURAs should be specifically targeted for assessment in specific BASIL implementations (RQ3;). These results indicate that, across implementations of the CURE, students perceived significant gains with large effect sizes in their knowledge, experience, and confidence for items on the PPI survey (RQ3;). In our view, the results of this dissertation will make important contributions to the CURE literature, as well as to the biochemistry education and assessment literature in general. More specifically, it will significantly improve understanding of the nature of student learning from CUREs and how to identify ALOs and design assessments that reveal what students actually learn from such CUREs - an area where there has been a dearth of available knowledge in the past. The outcomes of this dissertation could also help instructors and administrators identify and align assessments with the actual features of a CURE (or courses in general), use the identified CURAs to ensure the material fits departmental or university needs, and evaluate the benefits of students participating in these innovative curricula. Future research will focus on expanding the development and validation of assessments so that practitioners can better evaluate the efficacy of their CUREs for developing the research competencies of their undergraduate students and continue to render improvements to their curricula.</p>