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IntroductionIntussusception, although common in the pediatric population, rarely occurs in adults. Furthermore, patients often show nonspecific symptoms. Most adult patients with intussusception have a surgical lead point, a well-defined pathological abnormality, often accurately diagnosed after surgery. A low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN), often misdiagnosed as acute appendicitis, is rarely associated with the development of intussusception. Here we report a case of LAMN-related ileocolic intussusception that was histologically diagnosed after laparoscopic right hemicolectomy.Case presentationA 58-year-old woman visited our emergency department because of intermittent episodes of epigastric pain with periumbilical tenderness. These symptoms persisted intermittently for 2 weeks. The pain was moderate in severity, colicky in nature, and sometimes shifted to the lower abdominal region. Abdominal computed tomography indicated intussusception with ileocecal and mesenteric telescoping into the transverse colon. Complete colonoscopy with reduction of intussusception was performed, revealing a ball-like mass protruding and occupying the entire cecum lumen. Laparoscopic right hemicolectomy was then performed. Macroscopically, a dilated appendix was revealed with mucin content, along with hyalinization and fibrosis of the appendiceal wall. Microscopically, a tumor exhibiting villous and flat proliferation of mucinous epithelial cells with low-grade nuclear atypia was seen. However, there was no infiltration growth of the tumor cells, thereby demonstrating LAMN. Postoperative recovery was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on the 8th postoperative day without surgical complications.ConclusionThe differential diagnoses of chronic and colicky abdominal pain should be expanded to include intussusceptions as they can be severe, although cases in adults are rare.

Surface engineering of triboelectric nanogenerator for room temperature self-powered formaldehyde (FA) sensor is demonstrated. Such device delivers not only high power density but also remarkable selectivity and ultra-fast response time to FA gas.

The incorporation of the UiO-66-NH2 metal–organic frameworks as the processing additive into mixed lead–tin halide perovskites can effectively passivate the defects, enabling the photovoltaic devices to exhibit high performance and good stability.

Organic/inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have represented a promising field of renewable energy in recent years due to the compelling advantages of high efficiency, facile fabrication process and low cost. The development of inorganic p-type metal oxide materials plays an important role in the performance and stability of PSCs for commercial purposes. Herein a facile and effective way to improve hole extraction and conductivity of NiO

Aim:: To investigate the effect of smoking and alcohol intake on the association between betel nut chewing and each metabolic abnormality. Background:: Betel nut chewing has been associated with metabolic syndrome. Objective:: Whether the association is affected by tobacco or alcohol use is not clarified so far. Methods:: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study using 6,657 military males, aged 18-50 years in eastern Taiwan in 2013-2014. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the International Diabetes Federation’s ethnic criteria for Asians. The population was classified as non-betel nut chewers (N =5,749), current chewers with both tobacco and alcohol use (N =615), and current chewers without tobacco and/or alcohol use (N =293). Multiple logistic regression analyses were stepwise adjusted for the confounders including alcohol and tobacco use to determine the association of betel chewing with the metabolic abnormalities. Results:: As compared to the non-current chewers, the current chewers with both tobacco/alcohol use and those without had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals: 2.46 (2.00-3.02), and 2.04 (1.53-2.73), respectively) after controlling for age, service specialty, total cholesterol levels ≥200 mg/dL and exercise frequency (model 1). The association did not change much in the two chewing groups after additionally adjusting for alcohol consumption (model 2) (OR: 2.49 (1.99-3.12), and 2.04 (1.52-2.73), respectively), whereas the relationship reduced significantly in the chewers with both tobacco/alcohol use rather than those without after further adjusting for smoking (model 3) (OR: 2.18 (1.71-2.78) and 2.02 (1.51-2.71), respectively). This was in parallel with the pattern for the association of betel nut chewing with serum triglycerides >150 mg/dL in the chewers with both tobacco/alcohol use and those without in model 1 (OR: 2.90 (2.40-3.51) and 1.90 (1.45-2.49), respectively, p =0.011), in model 2 (OR: 2.82 (2.30-3.46) and 1.89 (1.44-2.49), respectively, p =0.040), and in model 3 (2.26 (1.81-2.81) and 1.87 (1.42-2.45), respectively, p =0.76). Conclusion:: Our findings suggest that tobacco smoking but not alcohol intake could increase the relationship of betel nut chewing with metabolic syndrome, which is likely mediated by a synergic effect on increasing serum triglycerides levels.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that convert mechanical energy into electricity have been considered as an economical strategy for energy harvesting. Modification of the surface properties of triboelectric materials is a straightforward method to improve the performance of TENGs. In this study, for the first time, we demonstrate a promising strategy to improve the performance and stability of TENGs by using electrostatically self-assembled 1H,1H-perfluorooctylamine (F15-NH2) as the surface modification layer for the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) dielectric layer. Our results indicate that the protonated amine groups present on F15-NH2 can anchor onto the PDMS surface via electrostatic interactions, whereas adoption of a slow-drying procedure during film formation enables highly electronegative perfluoroalkyl chains to accumulate at the air interface, facilitating the formation of an ordered molecular arrangement that can induce a favourable surface dipole for efficient electron transfer between the electrode and the dielectric layer. Importantly, this strategy can be applicable to a large-area plastic-based TENG, and a remarkable power density up to 57.1 W m−2 is achieved. To the best of our knowledge, the power density reported herein represents the highest value ever reported for solution-based chemically modified TENGs. The impressive output characteristics of the TENG enable 338 light-emitting diodes to be lit up instantaneously. More encouragingly, excellent durability of the TENG is attained when using a perylene diimide derivative-modified Ag layer as the electrode, exhibiting an almost unchanged Voc over 240 000 operation cycles. Our findings highlight the importance of surface engineering via electrostatically self-assembled materials for realizing high-performance and stable TENGs with high reproducibility. The strategies demonstrated herein enable the mass production of surface modification layers through processes that are compatible with scalable roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques, which can accelerate the commercialization of low-cost printed TENG technology.

The degradation of the polymer solar cells in the outdoor condition was studied. It was found that the devices with normal structure (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PBDTTT-EFT:PC71BM/ZrOx/Al) show better stability than those with inverted device structure (ITO/ZnO/PBDTTT-EFT:PC71BM/MoO3/Ag). PBDTTT-EFT is poly[4, 8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl) thiophen-2-yl) benzo [1,2-b;4,5-b'] dithiophene-2, 6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno [3,4-b]thiophene-) −2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)] and PC71BM is [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester. The major cause of degradation was attributed to the ultraviolet (UV) part of the sunlight. When the UV filter with cut-off wavelength of 400 nm was used to protect the device, the decay rate was improved by 50 times and the protected device retains 95% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 13 days outside. In the meanwhile, the decay of device fabricated by toluene was found 8 times faster than device by chlorobenzene. Thin 20 nm of Ag capping layer can further improve the stability. Degradation under water immersion indicates that the major effect of Ag is to protect against the residual moisture inside the encapsulation.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that can harvest environmental mechanical energy have been considered as a promising solution in driving wearable electronics. In order to maximize the surface charge density, intense efforts have been devoted to the development of various geometrical micro-/nanostructures on the triboelectric surface. However, this approach generally has a low throughput and high cost, making it highly challenging for practical applications. In this study, we present a promising strategy to simultaneously enhance the performance and stability of TENGs by using silane-based self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Silane-based SAM molecules, including fluorinated molecules with different numbers of fluorine (F) atoms and 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES), are employed as the surface modification layer for the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) dielectric layer and the aluminum (Al) electrode, respectively. The trichlorosilane groups on these SAMs can hydrolyze to form a covalent bond with the substrate, providing the TENGs with admirable device characteristics. Among the fluorinated molecules investigated herein, the SAMs based on 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorododecyltrichlorosilane (F21) afford the highest output characteristics due to the most distinct difference in the ability to attract and transfer surface electrons from the Al layer to PDMS, delivering an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 600 V and a short circuit current (Isc) of 52 μA. The device performance can be further improved by incorporating APTES SAMs on the Al surface, and a Voc of 873 V and an Isc of 78 μA are attained. To the best of our knowledge, these characteristics represent the highest output performance ever reported for SAM-modified TENGs. Importantly, the resulting TENG also exhibits good durability, maintaining 96% of its initial voltage output after 250 000 cycles of repeated tests. More encouragingly, our strategy is also applicable for large-area TENGs. The present findings indicate that tailoring the atomic-scale interfacial properties plays an important role in the development of high-performance and stable TENGs.

A novel method for passivating the interface between Si0.7Ge0.3 using an in-situ downstream RF plasma consisting of a nitrogen-rich mixture of H2 and N2 gases at 250 °C prior to atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 and HfO2 was demonstrated. XPS spectra of the interface with Al2O3 indicated the presence of a nitride layer enriched in SiONx and depleted in Ge relative to the substrate. The electrical properties of this interface were characterized using I-V and variable frequency C-V measurements of MOS capacitors. The N2/H2 plasma passivation process produced a reduced density of interface trap states (Dit) and lower gate leakage compared with ex-situ HF clean and sulfur passivation for Al2O3 gate oxides. The lowered leakage current and Dit observed compared with HF(aq) or sulfur-passivated surfaces were consistent with enhanced oxide nucleation due to N2/H2 plasma passivation lowering carbon surface contamination and dangling bonds. TEM/EELS analysis of the interface was consistent with the presence of a thin interfacial nitride layer suppressing the formation of Ge O bonds at the interface to form an SiOx-rich interlayer (IL).

Although stacking of multiple subcells with complementary bandgaps via an interconnecting layer (ICL) to form multi-junction tandem devices appears to be one of the most promising strategies to increase the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PeSCs), the realization of high efficiency and long-term stable tandem devices based on solution-processed ICL remains highly challenging. In this study, a promising solution-processed ICL consisting of cross-linked p-doped hole transport layer (HTL) and n-doped fullerene electron transport layer for efficient and stable monolithic perovskite tandem solar cells is demonstrated. For the first time, high-performance photo-cross-linkable p-doped HTL material based on poly-[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] (PTAA) is developed by incorporating 1,2-bis[4-(azido-methyl)phenyl]-1,2-diphenylethene (TPE-MN3) and molybdenum tris-[1-(trifluoroethanoyl)-2-(trifluoromethyl)ethane-1,2-dithiolene] (Mo(tfdCOCF3)3) as the cross-linking agent and p-type dopant, respectively. This HTL exerts multiple positive impact on the device characteristics, including good solvent resistance, appropriate energy level matching, good electrical conductivity, and high compatibility with different perovskite systems. With these desirable characteristics, the series-connected tandem solar cells afford a PCE up to 18.69%, which represents the highest efficiency reported to date for monolithic all-perovskite tandem cells. Additionally, owing to high conductivity of the interfacial layers, a promising PCE up to 16.20% is attained even when the active area is extended to 1.2 cm2. More encouragingly, the encapsulated tandem cells exhibit remarkable long-term stability, maintaining ≈ 91% of its initial PCE after 9300 h (≈387 days) of air exposure. This work represents an important step forward toward the realization of large-area solution-processed perovskite tandem solar cells with high efficiency and long-term stability.

Recent advancements in deep learning (DL) have led to the wide adoption of AI applications, such as image recognition [1], image de-noising and speech recognition, in the 5G smartphones. For a satisfactory user experience, there are stringent requirements in the real-time response of smartphone applications. In order to meet the performance expectations for DL, numerous deep learning accelerators (DLA) have been proposed for DL inference on the edge devices [2]–[5]. As depicted in Fig. 7.1.1, the major challenge in designing a DLA for smartphones is achieving the required computing efficiency, while limited by the power budget and memory bandwidth (BW). Since the overall power consumption of a smartphone system-on-a-chip (SoC) is usually constrained to 2 to 3W and the available DRAM BW is around 10-to-30GB/s, the power budget allocated for a DLA must be below 1W with the memory BW limited to 1-to-10GB/s. While operating under such constraints, the DLA is required to support various network topologies and highly precise neural operations in smartphone applications. For instance, the Android neural network APIs currently specify the use of asymmetric quantization (ASYMM-Q), providing better precision than conventional symmetric quantization.

Emerging wearable devices with non-invasively biosensing technics have drawn considerable attention to continuously monitor several metabolites in body fluids, such as a tear, saliva, and sweat, to diagnose human health conditions. To further boost up the reproducibility and reliability of wearable biosensors to detect lactate concentration levels from human sweat, in this study, ZIF-67 derived NiCo LDH was synthesized as the electrocatalyst for non-enzymatic lactate detection. Co-based ZIF-67 served as self-sacrificial templates to fabricate hierarchically structural NiCo LDH with uniform porosity and high electrochemically active surface area to achieve outstanding electrocatalytic performance for lactate sensing. After optimizing the particle size of ZIF-67 and transformation times, ZIF-67 derived NiCo LDH reached the ultrahigh sensitivity of 83.98 μA mM−1 cm−2 at an applied potential of 0.55 V (vs. Ag/AgCl KCl sat’d) in the concentration range from 2 to 26 mM. Moreover, the lactate concentration difference in the human sweat can be verified under different exercise conditions, namely anaerobic exercise and aerobic exercise, using ZIF-67 derived NiCo LDH modified electrode. Overall, this research provides a potential electrocatalyst for utilizing enzyme-free electrochemical lactate sensors with reliable and stable performance to introduce non-invasive human sweat monitoring on wearable bioelectronics.

The technical challenges and viable technologies of tunneling MOSFETs (TFET) using III-V semiconductors are present in this paper. Device engineering indispensable in improving the performance of TFETs is summarized. In particular, the electrical characteristics of TFETs using In0.53Ga0.47As/higher-In-content InGaAs/In0.53Ga0.47As quantum well (QW) structures are addressed as viable examples. Also, the effect of surface pre-treatment on InAs on the MOS interface properties, important for the InAs MOSFET and TFET performance, is presented. In addition, the electrical properties of In0.53Ga0.47As MOSFETs using ALD La2O3 gate insulators with ferroelectric-like hysteresis are also introduced as another possible direction for steep slope devices.

Material stock is an urban issue related to urban mining. In recent years, urban metabolism issues, i.e., the determination of urban stability, have also emerged as important. The manifestation of dynamic materials in a city involves processes of importing, supply, transformation, consumption, and exporting and other activities involved in the flow of materials. Socioeconomic factors must be considered to transform study results into useful policies. This study examines cement and gravel flows in Taipei and New Taipei City to explore such concepts. Our results show that more than 80% of the construction material use in Taipei and New Taipei City is mainly dedicated to the construction of buildings and secondarily to road improvements and road maintenance. Approximately 447 t of waste concrete is generated each year, and the consumption of cement and gravel in Taipei and New Taipei City has grown over the last decade. Factors that have heavily affected urban metabolism patterns include the slowdown of economic activities after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the emergence of new urban zoning laws. We find that roadwork has intensified dramatically due to road-smoothing and short-term urban construction projects, which may have been influenced by elections. This study measures flows in an urban metabolic system and examines socioeconomic factors that have led to an increase in the consumption of cement and gravel.

Lactate concentration in the human body is the crucial index to be monitored for evaluating exercise levels under anaerobic metabolism conditions. To solve the unstable nature of enzymes in biosensors for lactate detection, in this study, Ni-based layered double hydroxide (LDH) with various secondary transition metals (Fe and Co) was proposed as electrocatalysts in an enzyme-free electrochemical lactate sensor. According to the mechanism of lactate oxidation on the transition metal-based electrocatalyst, secondary transition metal of Co could serve as the active site for lactate oxidation and facilitate the adsorption of OH− in the alkaline electrolyte. After exploring the influence of secondary metal in Ni-based LDH, NiCo LDH modified screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) reached the high sensitivity of 30.59 ± 0.34 μA mM-1 cm-2 at an applied potential of 0.55 V (vs. Ag/AgCl KCl sat’d) in the concentration range from 5 to 25 mM, which is relatively higher than pristine Ni LDH (23.51 ± 0.45 μA mM-1 cm-2) and NiFe LDH (3.03 ± 0.06 μA mM-1 cm-2). This study proposes a new category of electrocatalyst to be utilized in enzyme-free electrochemical lactate sensors with reliable and stable performance as one of the non-invasive biosensors.

Here, we report that long-term stable and efficient organic solar cells (OSCs) can be obtained through the following strategies: i) combination of rapid-drying blade-coating deposition with an appropriate thermal annealing treatment to obtain an optimized morphology of the active layer; ii) insertion of interfacial layers to optimize the interfacial properties. The resulting devices based on poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate-2,6-diyl)] (PBDTTT-EFT):[6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71 BM) blend as the active layer exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 9.57 %, which represents the highest efficiency ever reported for blade-coated OSCs. Importantly, the conventional structure devices based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):phenyl-C61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blend can retain approximately 65 % of their initial PCE for almost 2 years under operating conditions, which is the best result ever reported for long-term stable OSCs under operational conditions. More encouragingly, long-term stable large-area OSCs (active area=216 cm2 ) based on P3HT:PCBM blend are also demonstrated. Our findings represent an important step toward the development of large-area OSCs with high performance and long-term stability.

This paper proposes high efficiency semitransparent organic solar cells (OSCs) with good color perception and good color rendering using blade coating technique. We investigate four different polymer blends and first fabricate small area devices with active area of 0.04 cm2, followed by large area devices with active area of 10.8 cm2. Two of the polymer blends, 2,6-Bis(trimethyltin)-4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene:6,6-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PBDTTT-CT:PC71BM) and poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′] dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)]:PC71BM (PBDTTT-EFT:PC71BM) show promising results. For small area devices, semitransparent PBDTTT-CT:PC71BM and semitransparent PBDTTT-EFT:PC71BM achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.2% (opaque PCE = 7.5%) and 5.6% (opaque PCE = 9.4%) respectively. For large area devices, they are found to produce a PCE of 3.8% (opaque PCE = 4.2%) and 5.3% (opaque PCE = 5.9%) respectively. Based on the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram, semitransparent PBDTTT-CT:PC71BM and semitransparent PBDTTT-EFT:PC71BM are located very close to the standard illuminant D65, indicating good color perception. As for color rendering, they demonstrate high color rendering index (CRI) of 95.4 and 87.1 respectively. These combined high performances indicate high-quality transmitted light, which is suitable for window application.

Although organic–inorganic lead halide perovskite nanowires (NWs) have shown great potential in a wide range of device applications, their relatively low performance and insufficient stability represent major bottlenecks for their further development. In this study, we present an integrated approach to achieve highly efficient and long-term stable methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite NW solar cells by combining a 4-(1,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-N,N-diphenylaniline (N-DPBI)-doped poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalene diimide-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)) polymeric film as the electron transport layer (ETL) with an atomic-layer-deposited Al2O3-based film as the encapsulation layer. Our results indicate that N-DPBI doping can not only improve the electron extraction capability by minimizing resistive losses, but also improve the surface coverage of the P(NDI2OD-T2) ETL on the MAPbI3 NW layer. With this n-doped ETL, a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 18.83% is achieved, which represents the highest PCE ever reported for perovskite NW solar cells. Importantly, taking advantage of the high charge carrier mobility of MAPbI3 NWs (0.01 cm2 V−1 s−1), the large-area NW devices with an active area of 5.04 cm2 also deliver a high PCE up to 15.25%. More encouragingly, the encapsulated NW devices exhibit excellent long-term stability, retaining ∼92% of their initial efficiency after being exposed to the ambient atmosphere for more than 6000 hours. The encapsulated NW devices still remain fairly stable (∼20% loss in PCE) even after ∼1500 hours of continuous operation under AM1.5G sunlight irradiation in the ambient atmosphere. The approaches demonstrated herein can not only offer a very promising strategy for realizing high-performance and long-term stable perovskite NW solar cells, but also pave the way for future developments of perovskite NW-based optoelectronic devices.

We have synthesized and characterized three perylene diimides, X-PDI, where X = H, F, or Br. These three compounds have been tested for the substitution of [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) in inverted perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). Although the efficiency of PDI derivative-based conventional PVSCs is as high as 17.6% (J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 8724), the corresponding performance of inverted PVSCs is still lagging behind and improvement is necessary. For electron accepting (from CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite) and electron transporting properties of the materials, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical cyclic voltammetry, direct current conductivity, space-charge limited current (SCLC) electron mobility, atomic force microscopy (AFM) surface morphology, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy gauging charge-trapping have been studied. The HOMO/LUMO energy levels are 5.94/4.00, 5.83/3.96, 6.00/3.97, and 5.48/3.73 eV for H-PDI, F-PDI, Br-PDI, and PC61BM, respectively. Direct current conductivities of H-PDI, F-PDI, Br-PDI, and PC61BM are 8.71 × 10−8, 1.18 × 10−9, 2.2 × 10−6, and 8.42 × 10−6 S cm−1, respectively. The SCLC electron mobility of H-PDI, F-PDI, Br-PDI, and PC61BM are 1.12 × 10−4, 8.31 × 10−6, 1.08 × 10−3, and 5.00 × 10−3 S cm−1, respectively. PL spectroscopy of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite provides emission at wavelength of 781 nm, which is the same as for the perovskite layer covered with a thin film of H-PDI or F-PDI. However, the emission wavelength was blue-shifted to 773–774 nm when the perovskite layer was covered with a thin film of Br-PDI or PC61BM. Using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, the solubility (in chloroform) was determined as 1.2 × 10−2, 8.7 × 10−2 and >10−1 mol L−1 for F-PDI, H-PDI, and Br-PDI, respectively. In thin film state, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy indicated that the extent of molecular aggregation was F-PDI ≫ H-PDI > Br-PDI, which is consistent with the AFM-estimated root-mean-square roughness of F-PDI > H-PDI > Br-PDI ∼ PC61BM. Without the solution processed ZnO NP cathode buffer layer (CBL), the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of H-PDI, F-PDI, Br-PDI, and PC61BM PVSCs is ∼1%, ∼0%, 3.2%, and 4.1%, respectively. With the ZnO NP CBL, PCE is ∼7.8%, ∼0%, 10.5%, and 11.1% for H-PDI, F-PDI, Br-PDI, and PC61BM PVSCs, respectively. Through this study, we have demonstrated that the simple mono-bromine substituted perylene diimide (Br-PDI), is solution processable and has potential for use as a non-fullerene electron accepting and electron transporting material in inverted PVSCs.

A 62-year-old Taiwanese man presented to our hospital with soft masses over his right shoulder and left elbow that had rapidly developed over the previous three months. Diagnostic biopsy showed abnormal lymphoplasmacytoid cells in the soft tissue and bone marrow. Serial studies including immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry showed that these abnormal cells strongly expressed cell surface markers such as IgM and CD-20, but not CD3, CD5, or CD10, leading to the diagnosis of Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM). These soft tissue lesions and abnormal cells in the bone marrow decreased gradually after multiple rounds of chemotherapy with R-COP. This study presents a case of WM—a rare B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder—with initial extramedullary soft tissue presentation. Thus, physicians should be aware of this rare soft tissue clinical manifestation in patients.

Current artificial intelligence (AI) with human-level accuracy has promising business values in many application fields. However, the price is high computation complexity and memory bandwidth. Therefore it is challenging to deploy AI onto edge devices where the power and hardware resource are limited. In this paper, the design challenges on Edge AI and solutions from Mediatek is introduced. Dedicated parallel AI processor is embedded to gain computation and power efficiency. Memory hierarchy is designed to share and reuse data locally without redundant DRAM accessing. A direct data link is implemented to pass the data between system peripherals and processors to further reduce DRAM bandwidth. The implementation result shows the SoC with all these techniques significantly outperforms other works according to ETHZ AI benchmark.