arXiv subjects

Mahad Ali

Publications and source records attributed to Mahad Ali.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

FMCL: Class-Aware Client Clustering with Foundation Model Representations for Heterogeneous Federated Learning

Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative model training across distributed clients without sharing raw data, yet its performance deteriorates under statistical heterogeneity. Clustered Federated Learning addresses this challenge by grouping similar clients and training separate models per cluster. However, existing clustering strategies often rely on raw data statistics, model parameters, or heuristic similarity measures that fail to capture class-level semantic structure across heterogeneous domains and frequently require iterative coordination. We propose FMCL, a one-shot, class-aware client clustering framework that leverages foundation model representations to construct semantic client signatures. Using a frozen foundation model, FMCL computes class-level embedding prototypes for each client and measures similarity via cosine distance between their class-aware representations. Clustering is performed once prior to training, introducing no additional communication during federated optimization and remaining agnostic to the downstream model architecture. Extensive experiments across heterogeneous benchmarks demonstrate that FMCL improves federated performance and yields more stable clustering behavior compared to existing clustering-based methods under non-identically distributed data partitioning.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2025

A Synoptic Review of High-Frequency Oscillations as a Biomarker in Neurodegenerative Disease

High Frequency Oscillations (HFOs), rapid bursts of brain activity above 80 Hz, have emerged as a highly specific biomarker for epileptogenic tissue. Recent evidence suggests that HFOs are also present in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), reflecting underlying network hyperexcitability and offering a promising, noninvasive tool for early diagnosis and disease tracking. This synoptic review provides a comprehensive analysis of publicly available electroencephalography (EEG) datasets relevant to HFO research in neurodegenerative disorders. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1,222 articles, revealing a significant and growing research interest in HFOs, particularly within the last ten years. We then systematically profile and compare key public datasets, evaluating their participant cohorts, data acquisition parameters, and accessibility, with a specific focus on their technical suitability for HFO analysis. Our comparative synthesis highlights critical methodological heterogeneity across datasets, particularly in sampling frequency and recording paradigms, which poses challenges for cross-study validation, but also offers opportunities for robustness testing. By consolidating disparate information, clarifying nomenclature, and providing a detailed methodological framework, this review serves as a guide for researchers aiming to leverage public data to advance the role of HFOs as a cross-disease biomarker for AD and related conditions.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Fine-Tuning Foundation Models with Federated Learning for Privacy Preserving Medical Time Series Forecasting

Federated Learning (FL) provides a decentralized machine learning approach, where multiple devices or servers collaboratively train a model without sharing their raw data, thus enabling data privacy. This approach has gained significant interest in academia and industry due to its privacy-preserving properties, which are particularly valuable in the medical domain where data availability is often protected under strict regulations. A relatively unexplored area is the use of FL to fine-tune Foundation Models (FMs) for time series forecasting, potentially enhancing model efficacy by overcoming data limitation while maintaining privacy. In this paper, we fine-tuned time series FMs with Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Impedance Cardiography (ICG) data using different FL techniques. We then examined various scenarios and discussed the challenges FL faces under different data heterogeneity configurations. Our empirical results demonstrated that while FL can be effective for fine-tuning FMs on time series forecasting tasks, its benefits depend on the data distribution across clients. We highlighted the trade-offs in applying FL to FM fine-tuning.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2021

FedPrune: Towards Inclusive Federated Learning

Federated learning (FL) is a distributed learning technique that trains a shared model over distributed data in a privacy-preserving manner. Unfortunately, FL's performance degrades when there is (i) variability in client characteristics in terms of computational and memory resources (system heterogeneity) and (ii) non-IID data distribution across clients (statistical heterogeneity). For example, slow clients get dropped in FL schemes, such as Federated Averaging (FedAvg), which not only limits overall learning but also biases results towards fast clients. We propose FedPrune; a system that tackles this challenge by pruning the global model for slow clients based on their device characteristics. By doing so, slow clients can train a small model quickly and participate in FL which increases test accuracy as well as fairness. By using insights from Central Limit Theorem, FedPrune incorporates a new aggregation technique that achieves robust performance over non-IID data. Experimental evaluation shows that Fed- Prune provides robust convergence and better fairness compared to Federated Averaging.

cs.LG↗