Realistic Image synthesis, usually, requires long computations and the simulation of the light interacting with a virtual scene. One of the most computationally intensive simulation in this area is the visualization of solid participating media. This media can describe many different types of object with the same physical parameters (e.g. marble, air, fire, skin, wax ...). Simulating the light interacting with it requires the computation of many independent photons interactions inside the medium. However, those interactions can be computed in parallel, using the power of modern Graphic Processor Unit, or GPU, computing. This work present an overview over different methodologies, that can affect the performance of this type of simulations on the GPU. Different existing ideas are analyzed, compared and modified with the scope of speeding up the computation respect to the classic CPU implementation. 1

Fluorescence is a common effect in nature, it re-emits light by absorbing photons, caus- ing a wavelength shift from a shorter wavelength to a longer one. In recent years, there is an increased interest in including fluorescence in physically-based rendering. Fluorescence behavior is properly represented as a re-radiation matrix: for a given input wavelength, this matrix indicates how much energy is re-emitted at all other wavelengths. However, such a 2D representation has a significant memory footprint, especially when a scene con- tains a high number of fluorescent objects or fluorescent textures. This thesis proposes using Gaussian Mixture Domain to model re-radiation, which allows us to significantly reduce the memory footprint. Instead of storing the full matrix, we work with a set of Gaussian parameters that also allow direct importance sampling. When accuracy is a concern, one can still use the re-radiation matrix data and just benefit from impor- tance sampling provided by the Gaussian Mixture. Our method is useful when numerous fluorescent materials are present in a scene, particularly for textures with fluorescent components. 1

Title: Adjoint-Driven Importance Sampling in Light Transport Simulation Author: RNDr. Jiří Vorba Department: Department of Software and Computer Science Education Supervisor: doc. Ing. Jaroslav Křivánek, Ph.D., Department of Software and Computer Science Education Abstract: Monte Carlo light transport simulation has recently been adopted by the movie industry as a standard tool for producing photo realistic imagery. As the industry pushes current technologies to the very edge of their possibilities, the unprecedented complexity of rendered scenes has underlined a fundamental weakness of MC light transport simulation: slow convergence in the presence of indirect illumination. The culprit of this poor behaviour is that the sam- pling schemes used in the state-of-the-art MC transport algorithms usually do not adapt to the conditions of rendered scenes. We base our work on the ob- servation that the vast amount of samples needed by these algorithms forms an abundant source of information that can be used to derive superior sampling strategies, tailored for a given scene. In the first part of this thesis, we adapt general machine learning techniques to train directional distributions for biasing scattering directions of camera paths towards incident illumination (radiance). Our approach allows progressive...

Monte Carlo light transport simulation has become a de-facto standard tool for photorealistic rendering. However, the algorithms used by the current rendering systems are often ineffective, especially in scenes featuring light transport due to multiple highly glossy or specular interactions and complex visibility between the camera and light sources. It is therefore desirable to adopt more robust algorithms in practice. Light transport algorithms based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) are known to be effective at sampling many different kinds of light transport paths even in the presence of complex visibility. However, the current MCMC algorithms often over-sample some of the paths while under-sampling or completely missing other paths. We attribute this behavior to insufficient global exploration of path space which leads to their unpredictable convergence and causes the occurrence of image artifacts. This in turn prohibits adoption of MCMC algorithms in practice. In this thesis we therefore focus on improving global exploration in MCMC algorithms for light transport simulation. First, we present a new MCMC algorithm that utilizes replica exchange to improve global exploration. To maximize efficiency of replica exchange we introduce tempering of the path space, which allows easier discovery of important...

This thesis is focused on study of charge transport in semiconducting radiation detectors. Theoretical calculations of current waveforms based on continuity equation and drift-diffusion equation are done. Useful approximations of current waveforms for detector with shallow electron trap are discussed. Monte Carlo simulation of the current waveforms is proposed and applied to fit experimental current waveforms measured using laser-induced transient current technique and for evaluation of charge transport parameters of the detector such as electric field profile, trapping and detrapping time of traps, drift mobility and other parameters. Detectors prepared from semi-insulating GaAs and CdZnTe single crystals are tested using electrical, spectroscopic and optical characterization techniques.

Photorealistic rendering has a wide variety of applications, and so there are many rendering algorithms and their variations tailored for specific use cases. Even though practically all of them do physically-based simulations of light transport, their results on the same scene are often different - sometimes because of the nature of a given algorithm or in a worse case because of bugs in their implementation. It is difficult to compare these algorithms, especially across different rendering frameworks, because there is not any standardized testing software or dataset available. Therefore, the only way to get an unbiased comparison of algorithms is to create and use your dataset or reimplement the algorithms in one rendering framework of choice, but both solutions can be difficult and time-consuming. We address these problems with our test suite based on a rigorously defined methodology of evaluation of light transport algorithms. We present a scripting framework for automated testing and fast comparison of rendering results and provide a documented set of non-volumetric test scenes for most popular research-oriented render- ing frameworks. Our test suite is easily extensible to support additional renderers and scenes. 1

The aim of this thesis is to assess and evaluate the erosion phenomena at the model catchment of Malče Budský stream. This site is located on the cadastral areas Besednice, Soběnov and Malče. This survey was conducted in aspects of pedology, hydrogeology and climate. Further evaluations were rain amount for the nearest meteorological station, which is located in Soběnov. To evaluate and calculate erosion parameters for a given locality the methods of universal soil loss equation by Wishmeier and Smith and modified universal soil loss equation by Williams and Berndt have been used. The CN method was used for calculations and following evaluation of soil loss. The result of this thesis is designing, generalization and refinement of individual factors in solved area.

Polymer-based drug delivery systems represent one of the promising strategies for successful tumor treatment. Conjugation of a low-molecular-weight drug to a syn- thetic polymer carrier enables targeted drug delivery to tumor tissue/cells and limited systemic toxicity of the drug. The conjugates show extended circulation time, and preferentially accumulate in tumor tissue due to the Enhanced Permeability and Re- tention (EPR) effect. The EPR effect depends on a structural anomaly in tumor neovasculature, and vasodilators were shown to enhance the EPR effect via an in- crease of blood supply in the tumor. Polymer drug carriers based on water-soluble N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) benefit from variable architecture, drug loading and controlled release. HPMA-based conjugates with cancerostatics have al- ready proved high anti-tumor activity, inducing complete tumor regression followed by resistance to a second tumor challenge in experimental murine models. Three HPMA-based conjugates with organic nitrates (labeled 1, 2, and 3) were pre- pared as polymer donors of nitric oxide (NO) with the aim to intensify the EPR effect, thereby enhancing accumulation of co-administered macromolecular cancerostatics in the tumor. In this study, the conjugates were non-toxic to cancer cells and did not potentiate...

The topic of this doctoral thesis is to study the thermal properties of PCM materials and discussion of their use for cooling of photovoltaic systems. The aim of the study is to measure and characterize the thermal properties of commercial PCM materials (Micronal®), their practical use is related to the phase transitions. The behavior of bulk materials at different temperatures is well described theoretically and experimentally verified. For the application use it is necessary to examine and determine the thermal properties of PCM materials depending on the phase transitions during heating and cooling. To study the thermal properties of materials the known transient methods of measuring are used which give full information about the behavior of the materials investigated in dependence on the temperature and thus allow the determination of the thermo-physical parameters of the system. For the transient measurements there are used especially pulse transient and step wise method. Newly is used also combination of linear temperature rise (the ramp wise) and the step wise method. The principle is based on the generation of a small amount of heat inside the studied sample and it is measured the thermal response of the system from which it may be then determined the necessary thermo-physical parameters. The theoretical part of this thesis focuses on characterization of methods for the determination of thermo-physical parameters of the investigated material. In the experimental part of the approached process of experiment, the results, the method of evaluation of the obtained data and also the discussion of results from the viewpoint of potential applications are presented.