All-rounder: A flexible DNN accelerator with diverse data format support

Recognizing the explosive increase in the use of DNN-based applications, several industrial companies developed a custom ASIC (e.g., Google TPU, IBM RaPiD, Intel NNP-I/NNP-T) and constructed a hyperscale cloud infrastructure with it. The ASIC performs operations of the inference or training process of DNN models which are requested by users. Since the DNN models have different data formats and types of operations, the ASIC needs to support diverse data formats and generality for the operations. However, the conventional ASICs do not fulfill these requirements. To overcome the limitations of it, we propose a flexible DNN accelerator called All-rounder. The accelerator is designed with an area-efficient multiplier supporting multiple precisions of integer and floating point datatypes. In addition, it constitutes a flexibly fusible and fissionable MAC array to support various types of DNN operations efficiently. We implemented the register transfer level (RTL) design using Verilog and synthesized it in 28nm CMOS technology. To examine practical effectiveness of our proposed designs, we designed two multiply units and three state-of-the-art DNN accelerators. We compare our multiplier with the multiply units and perform architectural evaluation on performance and energy efficiency with eight real-world DNN models. Furthermore, we compare benefits of the All-rounder accelerator to a high-end GPU card, i.e., NVIDIA GeForce RTX30390. The proposed All-rounder accelerator universally has speedup and high energy efficiency in various DNN benchmarks than the baselines

LightNorm: Area and Energy-Efficient Batch Normalization Hardware for On-Device DNN Training

When training early-stage deep neural networks (DNNs), generating intermediate features via convolution or linear layers occupied most of the execution time. Accordingly, extensive research has been done to reduce the computational burden of the convolution or linear layers. In recent mobile-friendly DNNs, however, the relative number of operations involved in processing these layers has significantly reduced. As a result, the proportion of the execution time of other layers, such as batch normalization layers, has increased. Thus, in this work, we conduct a detailed analysis of the batch normalization layer to efficiently reduce the runtime overhead in the batch normalization process. Backed up by the thorough analysis, we present an extremely efficient batch normalization, named LightNorm, and its associated hardware module. In more detail, we fuse three approximation techniques that are i) low bit-precision, ii) range batch normalization, and iii) block floating point. All these approximate techniques are carefully utilized not only to maintain the statistics of intermediate feature maps, but also to minimize the off-chip memory accesses. By using the proposed LightNorm hardware, we can achieve significant area and energy savings during the DNN training without hurting the training accuracy. This makes the proposed hardware a great candidate for the on-device training.Comment: The paper is going to appearin the 40th IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD), 202

Prognostic Significance of Inner Quadrant Involvement in Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Purpose: In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the initial tumor location as a prognostic factor in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: Between March 2002 and January 2007, a total of 179 patients with stage II/111 breast cancer underwent NAC followed by breast surgery. Using physical and radiologic findings, patients were grouped by their initial tumor location into inner/both quadrant (upper/lower inner quadrant involvement +/- multicentric tumor involving outer quadrant; n=97) and outer quadrant (n=82) tumor groups. All patients received neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy. One hundred two patients underwent modified radical mastectomy and 77 patients underwent breast conserving surgery. Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) and hormonal therapy were administered after surgery when indicated. While 156 patients underwent postoperative RT, 23 did not. The median follow-up duration was 61.1 (12-106) months. Results: The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival rates of all patients were 74.8% and 89.9%, respectively. Patients with inner/both quadrant tumors had lower 5-year DFS than those with outer quadrant tumors (67.7% vs. 83.4%, respectively; hazard ratio [HR]=1.941, p=0.034). A nodal ratio >25% was also an independent adverse prognostic factor for DFS (HR=3.276; p<0.001). There was no significant difference in DFS (p=0.592) after RT on the internal mammary node (IMN). Treatment failed in 44 out of 179 patients (24.6%), of which 27 patients had inner/ both quadrant tumors. Twenty-one out of 27 patients had distant failures. Conclusion: Among breast cancer patients treated with NAC, those with inner/both quadrant tumors had lower DFS than those with outer quadrant tumors. More aggressive neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy with IMN RT is required for improved disease control and long-term survival

Accelerated whole breast irradiation in early breast cancer patients with adverse prognostic features

Purpose: Accelerated whole breast irradiation (AWBI) and conventional whole breast irradiation (CWBI) were compared to determine whether AWBI is as effective as CWBI in patients with early breast cancer and adverse prognostic features. Patients and methods: We included 330 patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and post-operative radiation therapy (RT) using AWBI for pT1-2 and pN0-1a breast cancer from 2007 to 2010. These patients were matched with 330 patients who received CWBI according to stage, age (+/- 3 years), and the year of BCS. AWBI of 39 Gy and CWBI of 50.4 Gy were given in 13 and 28 fractions, respectively. Results: Median follow-up time was 81.9 months. There were no statistically significant differences between the AWBI and CWBI groups in terms of age, stage, tumor grade, or molecular subtype. More patients with Ki-67 index >= 14% were present in the AWBI group (AWBI 47.0% vs. CWBI 10.3%; P= 14% was marginally related to IBTR (5-year IBTR rate: 2.2%; P=0.07). There were no statistically significant differences in the hazard ratios between the AWBI and CWBI groups according to any of the risk factors. There were no acute grade 3 toxicities in the AWBI group. There were no late grade 3 toxicities in either group. Conclusions: AWBI is comparable to CWBI in early breast cancer with adverse prognostic features

Phase II trial of preoperative paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and trastuzumab combination therapy in HER2 positive stage II/III breast cancer: The Korean Cancer Study Group BR 07-01

An addition of trastuzumab preoperatively to chemotherapy for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer improved relapse-free survival (RFS). This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of preoperative paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and trastuzumab (PGH) combination for HER2-positive breast caner. Pathologically, proven node positive stage II/III breast cancer patients with adequate organ function and no history of anti-cancer therapy were eligible. Patients received weekly trastuzumab with paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) and gemcitabine 1,200 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8, every 3 weeks for 6 cycles. Postoperatively, patients completed trastuzumab for 1 year and hormone therapy for 5 years if indicated. All patients received postoperative radiation therapy. Of 53 enrolled patients with a median tumor of 5.3 (range, 2.0 to > 12) cm; 43.4%, T3/T4; 75.4%, N2/N3; and 45.3%, positive hormone receptors. The pathologic complete response (pCR) rate was 58.5% in both tumor and lymph nodes. Grade 3/4 adverse events were neutropenia (32%), febrile neutropenia (0.6%), and transient elevation of AST/ALT (1.6%) during a total of 318 cycles. All patients maintained normal cardiac function. With a median follow-up of 40 months, 3-year RFS rate was 84% with 91.7% distant metastasis-free survival rates. Remarkable pCR rate was obtained with non-anthracycline-based PGH therapy for HER2-positive stage II/III breast cancer. Adverse events were mild with few incidences of febrile neutropenia

Effect of Time Interval between Breast-Conserving Surgery and Radiation Therapy on Outcomes of Node-Positive Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Adjuvant Doxorubicin/Cyclophosphamide Followed by Taxane

Purpose This study evaluated the effect of surgery-radiotherapy interval (SRI) on outcomes in patients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and adjuvant four cycles of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (AC) followed by four cycles of taxane. Materials and Methods From 1999 to 2007, 397 eligible patients were diagnosed. The effect of SRI on outcomes was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards model, and a maximal chi-square method was used to identify optimal cut-off value of SRI for each outcome. Results The median SRI was 6.7 months (range, 5.6 to 10.3 months). A SRI of 7 months was the significant cut-off value for distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and disease-free survival (DFS) using a maximal chi-square method. For overall survival, a significant cut-off value was not found. The patients with SRI > 7 months had worse 6-year DMFS and DFS than those with SRI 7 months did not affect DMFS and DFS. Conclusion RT delayed for more than 7 months after BCS and adjuvant four cycles of AC followed by four cycles of taxane did not compromise clinical outcomes