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The morphodynamics of an inlet channel draining an estuary or bay are governed by a complex system of temporally and spatially varying physical processes, including wind, waves, tides, sediment transport, and both tide and wave driven currents. In addition, sediment availability and characteristics in conjunction with underlying geologic framework bear on the morphology and morphologic behavior of an inlet system. This study examines the morphodynamics, sediment transport patterns and time-series morphologic change of John’s Pass and Blind Pass, two structured tidal inlets that collectively make up a dual-inlet system sharing the tidal prism of northern Boca Ciega Bay, in Pinellas County, Florida. To quantify wave and tidal forcing and response mechanisms an array of hydrodynamic sensors were deployed over a 12 month period at both inshore and offshore locations. In order to capture morphologic changes and quantify volumetric changes within the inlets, bathymetric surveys of the inlets were conducted in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Similarly, bi-monthly beach survey data for the same range of time was acquired in order to quantify volumetric changes along adjacent stretches of beach. In addition to gaining insights into sediment pathways based on morphologic and volumetric variability, those data were also used to develop a regional sediment budget along the studied stretch of coast. To gain insights into the morphodynamics of the dual-inlet system, bathymetric and hydrodynamic data was used to develop a numerical model of the dual inlet system. Numerical model simulations based on existing or baseline conditions were compared with numerical simulations employing synthetic bathymetric and hydrodynamic conditions in order to examine inlet behavior under a range of different morphological and hydrodynamic conditions. John’s Pass is the dominant of the two inlets. It exhibits mixed-energy straight morphology and captures ca 81% of the available tidal prism. The inlet has a well-developed mature ebb shoal, and actively bypasses sediment from one side of the inlet to the other supplying sediment to the downdrift littoral system. Blind Pass captures less than 20% of the available tidal prism, and while also exhibiting mixed-energy morphologic characteristics has a less well developed ebb shoal that currently has not fully established a sediment bypassing system. Both inlets channels and ebb shoals have been dredged on multiple occasions to provide sediment for the nourishment of nearby chronically eroding stretches of beach. Dredge pits excavated along the distal margins of the ebb shoals are infilling at rates substantially slower than expected due to limited sediment transport along those regions of the ebb shoal, while inlet channel dredge pits infill at rapid and expected rates. The objective of this study was to characterize the morphodynamics of the dual-inlet system with the aim of identifying sediment pathways and bypassing mechanisms, and quantify a balanced regional sediment budget in order to design more sustainable approaches to inlet management.

Práce se zabývá implementací simulátoru superskalárního procesoru. Implementace se odvíjí od existujících simulátorů a jejich chybějících částí. Simulátor umí vykonávat instrukční sadu RISC-V, ovšem je umožněno přidání jakékoli RISC instrukční sady. Simulátor má deterministickou predikci skoku. Části procesoru lze upravovat. Součástí je i editor kódu pro danou instrukční sadu.

The Internet has become the primary vector for the delivery of malicious code in cyber attacks, and malware has rapidly become a pervasive critical threat. Anti- malware products offer effective protection from malware threats for servers and endpoint devices using a variety of techniques. Advanced enterprise-level anti-malware products rely on state-of-art behavioral-based detection algorithms, in addition to traditional signature-based mechanisms. These dynamic detection techniques have been around for more than a decade and in response hackers have developed methods to evade them. However, currently known bypass methods require intensive manual labor. Moreover, this manual work has to be repeated whenever a parameter of the environment (such as the payload, operating system, Antivirus version, etc) changes, making these methods impractical. This may lead to the belief that dynamic techniques provide a good deterrence, and hence good protection. In this thesis we evaluate dynamic techniques. Specifically, we build tools to implement generic unhooking and funneling, and using these tools we show how dynamic techniques can be bypassed with considerably less effort than by fully manual methods. We also extend the repertoire of existing bypass methods and introduce a new malicious function call technique which exploits detection techniques that monitor a limited collection of critical system functions, as well as a method for bypassing guard-page protections. We demonstrate the effectiveness of all our techniques by conducting attacks against two enterprise antivirus products. Our results lead us to conclude that that dynamic techniques do not provide sufficient protection. / Graduate / 2018-02-07 / 0984 / erkanersan@gmail.com

This thesis addresses the question as to why multilevel politics is becoming an integral part of politics in Europe. Multilevel politics is conceptualized as a system which functions through a complex web of political relations within and across levels of decision making. The thesis argues that the rise of multilevel politics can be explained by its institutionalization in terms of the emergence, the evolution and especially the effects of relevant institutions. Based on a mixed-method research project, the influence of European institutions on subnational actors and the alignment of actor motives with institutional characteristics are empirically shown. The first chapter of the dissertation establishes the centrality of institutions for political transformation, examines the role of transnational and domestic institutions for multilevel politics, and contextualizes the research question in terms of institution-actor relations. The second chapter develops a new-institutionalist theoretical framework that explains the emergence, the evolution and the effects of the institutions, and formulates a series of hypotheses with regard to freestanding institutional influence, power distribution, material benefits and political identification. The third chapter outlines the mixed-method research design which addresses individual-level and institutional-level variations through a Europe-wide survey and a comparative case study. The fourth chapter on survey results shows generally favourable views on multilevel politics, and strong associations of these views with the independent variables under scrutiny. The fifth chapter specifies a multivariate model which includes all posited variables and confirms the majority of the hypotheses. Therefore, the new-institutionalist argument is broadly confirmed, while there is relatively weak evidence to sustain sociological explanations. The final chapter compares the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and examines the institutional characteristics which correspond to the hypothesized variables. It is then concluded that the two institutions share several overarching similarities, and display complementarity in other aspects.