Efficient Synapse Memory Structure for Reconfigurable Digital Neuromorphic Hardware

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) have high potential to process information efficiently with binary spikes and time delay information. Recently, dedicated SNN hardware accelerators with on-chip synapse memory array are gaining interest in overcoming the limitations of running software-based SNN in conventional Von Neumann machines. In this paper, we proposed an efficient synapse memory structure to reduce the amount of hardware resource usage while maintaining performance and network size. In the proposed design, synapse memory size can be reduced by applying presynaptic weight scaling. In addition, axonal/neuronal offsets are applied to implement multiple layers on a single memory array. Finally, a transposable memory addressing scheme is presented for faster operation of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) learning. We implemented a SNN ASIC chip based on the proposed scheme with 65 nm CMOS technology. Chip measurement results showed that the proposed design provided up to 200X speedup over CPU while consuming 53 mW at 100 MHz with the energy efficiency of 15.2 pJ/SOP.110Ysciescopu

Analysis of pseudoholomorphic curves on symplectization: Revisit via contact instantons

In this survey article, we present the analysis of pseudoholomorphic curves $u:(\dot \Sigma,j) \to (Q \times \mathbb{R}, \widetilde J)$ on the symplectization of contact manifold $(Q,\lambda)$ as a subcase of the analysis of contact instantons $w:\dot \Sigma \to Q$, i.e., of the maps $w$ satisfying the equation $${\bar{\partial}}^\pi w = 0, \, d(w^*\lambda \circ j) = 0$$ on the contact manifold $(Q,\lambda)$, which has been carried out by a coordinate-free covariant tensorial calculus. When the analysis is applied to that of pseudoholomorphic curves $u = (w,f)$ with $w = \pi_Q \circ u$, $f = s\circ u$ on symplectization, the outcome is generally stronger and more accurate than the common results on the regularity presented in the literature in that all of our a priori estimates can be written purely in terms $w$ not involving $f$. The a priori elliptic estimates for $w$ are largely consequences of various Weitzenb\"ock-type formulae with respect to the contact triad connection introduced by Wang and the first author in [OW14], and the estimate for $f$ is a consequence thereof by simple integration of the equation $df = w^*\lambda \circ j$. We also derive a simple precise tensorial formulae for the linearized operator and for the asymptotic operator that admit a perturbation theory of the operators with respect to (adapted) almost complex structures: The latter has been missing in the analysis of pseudoholomorphic curves on symplectization in the existing literature.Comment: 75 pages; Comments welcome; v2) typos corrected, one reference adde

Affective responses to chromatic ambient light in a vehicle

This study investigates the emotional responses to the color of vehicle interior lighting using self-assessment and electroencephalography (EEG). The study was divided into two sessions: the first session investigated the potential of ambient lighting colors, and the second session was used to develop in-vehicle lighting color guidelines. Every session included thirty subjects. In the first session, four lighting colors were assessed using seventeen adjectives. As a result, 'Preference, Softness, Brightness, and Uniqueness were found to be the four factors that best characterize the atmospheric properties of interior lighting in vehicles. Ambient illumination, according to EEG data, increased people's arousal and lowered their alpha waves. The following session investigated a wider spectrum of colors using four factors extracted from the previous session. As a result, bluish and purplish lighting colors had the highest preference and uniqueness among ten lighting colors. Green received an intermediate preference and a high uniqueness score. With its great brightness and softness, Neutral White also achieved an intermediate preference rating. Despite receiving a low preference rating, warm colors were considered to be soft. Red was the least preferred color, but its uniqueness and roughness were highly rated. This study is expected to provide a basic theory on emotional lighting guidelines in the vehicle context, providing manufacturers with objective rationale

OWQ: Lessons learned from activation outliers for weight quantization in large language models

Large language models (LLMs) with hundreds of billions of parameters show impressive results across various language tasks using simple prompt tuning and few-shot examples, without the need for task-specific fine-tuning. However, their enormous size requires multiple server-grade GPUs even for inference, creating a significant cost barrier. To address this limitation, we introduce a novel post-training quantization method for weights with minimal quality degradation. While activation outliers are known to be problematic in activation quantization, our theoretical analysis suggests that we can identify factors contributing to weight quantization errors by considering activation outliers. We propose an innovative PTQ scheme called outlier-aware weight quantization (OWQ), which identifies vulnerable weights and allocates high-precision to them. Our extensive experiments demonstrate that the 3.01-bit models produced by OWQ exhibit comparable quality to the 4-bit models generated by OPTQ

Affective Role of the Future Autonomous Vehicle Interior

Recent advancements in autonomous technology allow for new opportunities in vehicle interior design. Such a shift in in-vehicle activity suggests vehicle interior spaces should provide an adequate manner by considering users' affective desires. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the affective role of future vehicle interiors. Thirty one participants in ten focus groups were interviewed about challenges they face regarding their current vehicle interior and expectations they have for future vehicles. Results from content analyses revealed the affective role of future vehicle interiors. Advanced exclusiveness and advanced convenience were two primary aspects identified. The identified affective roles of each aspect are a total of eight visceral levels, four visceral levels each, including focused, stimulating, amused, pleasant, safe, comfortable, accommodated, and organized. We expect the results from this study to lead to the development of affective vehicle interiors by providing the fundamental knowledge for developing conceptual direction and evaluating its impact on user experiences.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 2 table