Since the end of Dennard scaling in the early 2000s, improving the energy efficiency of computation has been the main concern of the research community and industry. The large energy efficiency gap between general-purpose processors and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) motivates the exploration of customizable architectures, where one can adapt the architecture to the workload. In this Synthesis lecture, we present an overview and introduction of the recent developments on energy-efficient customizable architectures, including customizable cores and accelerators, on-chip memory customization, and interconnect optimization. In addition to a discussion of the general techniques and classification of different approaches used in each area, we also highlight and illustrate some of the most successful design examples in each category and discuss their impact on performance and energy efficiency. We hope that this work captures the state-of-the-art research and development on customizable architectures and serves as a useful reference basis for further research, design, and implementation for large-scale deployment in future computing systems.

Over the course of several thousand years, with a long history of continual development and enhancement, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has become a unique Chinese medical system with significant success in the field of healthcare, making great contributions to the well-being of mankind.The Essential Chinese Medicine book series fulfills the mission of honouring life and promoting the health of family members and friends. This series develops and expands on the essence of TCM to advocate new concepts of health and wellness.The editors-in-chief, Professor Zhang Bao Chun and Associate Professor Chen Yu Ting, have been involved in the teaching, research and clinical work of the TCM theoretical system for a long period of time. Both have not only mastered the ancient learning but have also blazed new trails. They have put forward assiduous efforts in the research and writing of materials, being the chief editors of several specialised academic publications and other teaching materials. This four-volume Essential Chinese Medicine series is the product of their extensive research.