Global illumination algorithms are used to render photorealistic images of 3D scenes taking into account both direct lighting from the light source and light reflected from other surfaces in the scene. Algorithms based on computing radiosity were among the first to be used to calculate indirect lighting, although they make assumptions that work only for diffusely reflecting surfaces. The classic radiosity approach divides a scene into multiple patches and generates a linear system of equations which, when solved, gives the values for the radiosity leaving each patch. This process can require extensive calculations and is therefore very slow. An alternative to solving a large system of equations is to use a Monte Carlo method of random sampling. In this approach, a large number of rays are shot from each patch into its surroundings and the irradiance values obtained from these rays are averaged to obtain a close approximation to the real value. <br /><br /> This thesis proposes the use of a Monte Carlo method to generate radiosity texture maps on graphics hardware. By storing the radiosity values in textures, they are immediately available for rendering, making this algorithm useful for interactive implementations. We have built a framework to run this algorithm and using current graphics cards (NV6800 or higher) it is possible to execute it almost interactively for simple scenes and within relatively low times for more complex scenes.

Global illumination is an important area of computer graphics, having direct applications in architectural visualization, lighting design and entertainment. Indirect illumination effects such as soft shadows, color bleeding, caustics and glossy reflections provide essential visual information about the interaction of different regions of the environment. Global illumination is a research area that deals with these illumination effects. Interactivity is also a desirable feature for many computer graphics applications, especially with unrestricted manipulation of the environment and lighting conditions. However, the design of methods that can handle both unrestricted interactivity and global illumination effects on environments of reasonable complexity is still an open challenge. <br /><br /> We present a new formulation of the light transport equation, called <em>pencil light transport</em>, that makes progress towards this goal by exploiting graphics hardware rendering features. The proposed method performs the transport of radiance over a scene using sets of pencils. A pencil object consists of a center of projection and some associated directional data. We show that performing the radiance transport using pencils is suitable for implementation on current graphics hardware. The new algorithm exploits optimized operations available in the graphics hardware architecture, such as pinhole camera rendering of opaque triangles and texture mapping. We show how the light transport equation can be reformulated as a sequence of light transports between pencils and define a new light transport operator, called the <em>pencil light transport operator</em>, that is used to transfer radiance between sets of pencils.

Spatial intensity variation introduced by illumination changes is a challenging problem for image segmentation and classification. Many techniques have been proposed which focus on removing this illumination variation by estimating or modelling it. There is limited research on developing an illumination invariant classification technique which does not use any preprocessing. A major focus of this research is on automatically classifying synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. These are large satellite images which pose many challenges for image classification including the incidence angle effect which is a strong illumination variation across the image. Mapping of full scene satellite images of sea-ice is important for navigational purposes for ships and also for climate research. The images obtained from the RADARSAT-2 satellite are dual band, high quality images. Currently, sea ice chart are produced manually by ice analysts at the Canadian Ice Service. However, this process can be automated to reduce processing time and obtain more detailed pixel-level ice maps. An automated classification algorithm to achieve sea ice and open water separation will greatly help the ice analyst by providing sufficient guidance in the initial stages of creating an ice map. It would also help the analyst to improve the accuracy while finding ice concentrations and remove subjective bias. The existing Iterative Region Growing by Semantics (IRGS) algorithm is not effective for full scene segmentation because of the incidence angle effect. This research proposes a "glocal" (global as well as local) approach to solve this problem. The image is divided in a rectangular grid and each rectangle is segmented using IRGS. This is viewed as an over-segmentation of the original image. Finally, IRGS is used globally to glue together the over-segmented regions. This method yields acceptable results with the denoised images. The proposed technique can also be used for general image classification purposes. Extensive testing was done to investigate the best set of parameters for the proposed approach. Images were simulated with the SAR illumination variation and multiplicative speckle noise. The technique was effective for general classification and attained accurate results for full scene SAR segmentation.

In recent years, amorphous oxide semiconductors have been studied due to their superior characteristics, such as transparent property, high electron mobility exceeding 10 cm2/V¡Es, and can be fabricated on plastic substrates at low temperatures. According to these advantages, a-IGZO thin-film transistors are promising as next-generation electronic devices. Although a-IGZO TFTs have such unique properties, the electrical performances are strongly dependent on its environment such as oxygen, water and visible light. In this study, the electrical characteristics of a-IGZO TFTs under positive bias stress with different ambient gases have been discussed. In particular, the total duration of the negative gate bias applied on the switching transistor is larger than that of the positive gate bias in display application. Therefore, the electrical stability under negative bias stress is vital to investigate. Moreover, a-IGZO TFT regarded as a panel switch may be exposed to visible light for the application of liquid crystal display. The electrical stability under illumination of visible light is also important to study. Experiment results show that device characteristics are affected under water-containing oxygen ambience. We indicates that the existence of water molecules can assist more oxygen to adsorb on the a-IGZO surface than the case without water assisting. That cause the variation of transfer curve under positive bias stress. However, the degradations in subthreshold swing and threshold voltage are caused by the state-related adsorption of water molecules under negative bias stress. Furthermore, adsorbed oxygen on the surface of a-IGZO can be desorbed by illumination of visible light, leading to large variation in transfer curve.

Recently, methods were developed to render various global illumination e&#64256;ects with rasterization GPUs. Among those were hardware based ray tracing and photon mapping. However, due to current GPU??s inherent architectural limitations, the e&#64259;ciency and throughput of these methods remained low. In this thesis, we propose a coherent rendering system that addresses these issues. First, we introduce new photon mapping and ray racing acceleration algorithms that facilitate data coherence and spatial locality, as well as eliminating unnecessary random memory accesses. A high level abstraction of the combined ray tracing and photon mapping streaming pipeline is introduced. Based on this abstraction, an e&#64259;cient ray tracing and photon mapping GPU is designed. Using an event driven simulator, developed for this GPU, we verify and validate the proposed algorithms and architecture. Simulation results have validated better interactive performances compared to the current GPUs.

With this bound Gardthausen, V.E. Sammlungen und Cataloge griechischer handschriften. Leipzig 1903; and, Ferrari, G.I documenti greci medioevali di diritto privato dell'Itallia meridionale. Leipzig, 1910. / With additions by Max Goldstaub.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-180). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-180). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Lawrence Nees, Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references.

Roadway illumination is a vital component of safety while driving during the night. There are regulations in place to ensure all publicly maintained roads are properly lit, but the validation process is too time consuming, costly, and dangerous for adequate data collection studies. The work in this thesis is aimed toward remedying this problem by creating an Advanced Lighting Measurement System (ALMS) capable of recording illumination readings while traveling at normal driving speeds. This solution is based on the Arduino Uno development board, a cost effective yet powerful embedded platform. This thesis involves collecting data along 100 centerline miles of Florida roadways and converting the resulting illumination readings into GIS format, allowing them to be included in the roadway database of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). By including this data FDOT will be able to repair poorly lit corridors and will be aware of possible safety concerns. The illumination values recorded by the ALMS have been validated and verified as an accurate replacement for conventional lighting measurement system.