arXiv subjects

Mohamad Sawan

Publications and source records attributed to Mohamad Sawan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CASISR: Circular Arbitrary-Scale Image Super-Resolution

The generalization performance (GP) of deep learning-based arbitrary-scale image super-resolution (ASISR) methods is subject to limited training datasets and unlimited testing datasets. It is vitally significant to enhance the GP of the pretrained ASISR models by making full use of the testing samples. The ASISR models usually employ an open-loop architecture from low-resolution (LR) images to super-resolution (SR) images. The degradation model from SR samples to LR samples is known bicubic down-sampling for the classical ASISR, is supposed down-sampling with additive random noise for the blind ASISR, and is learnable for the real-world ASISR. Combining the ASISR and degradation models, it is potentially possible to adopt a closed-loop architecture based on the automatic control theory for strengthening the GP of the ASISR methods. Therefore, this paper proposes a closed-loop architecture, circular ASISR (CASISR), to lift the capability of image reconstruction. A mathematical nonlinear loop equation is established to describe the CASISR, the reasonability of the CASISR is proven by conditional probability theory, and the stability of the CASISR is proven by Taylor series approximation. The first-order and second-order absolute difference images are defined to compare the image reconstruction performance of the ASISR and the CASISR methods. Comprehensive simulation experiments show that the proposed CASISR approach outperforms the eight state-of-the-art ASISR approaches in the quality of image reconstruction. Especially, the proposed CASISR is extraordinarily suitable for fractional SR scale factors and is extremely effective for text and stripe images with drastically changed edges.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2026

A Synchronous EEG-fNIRS BCI: A Proof-of-Concept for Multimodal Avalanche Analysis of Motor Cognition in Older Adults

This proof-of-concept study introduces a novel multimodal framework combining synchronized EEG-fNIRS modalities with neuronal avalanche analysis to identify early network dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. The approach leverages complementary neural signals to examine motor network dynamics during execution and imagery tasks within an interactive task environment. Preliminary analysis of a small pilot cohort (N=4 subjects, including one with Mild Cognitive Impairment) validated the technical feasibility of the multimodal framework and revealed observable condition-dependent patterns in network organization. Two primary observations emerged: a reduced neural contrast between motor execution and imagery states, and increased trial-to-trial variability in network organization in the MCI participant. These initial results successfully validate the technical pipeline and provide hypothesis-generating observations for future statistically powered studies. The convergence of findings across modalities suggests that multimodal assessment of network flexibility may help detect functional changes in early Alzheimer's continuum, supporting the future development of this BCI-inspired framework into an engaging diagnostic tool.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2026

CECGSR: Circular ECG Super-Resolution

Background and Objective: The electrocardiogram (ECG) plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of various cardiac diseases. ECG signals suffer from low-resolution (LR) due to the use of convenient acquisition devices, as well as internal and external noises and artifacts. Classical ECG super-resolution (ECGSR) methods adopt an open-loop architecture that converts LR ECG signals to super-resolution (SR) ones. According to the theory of automatic control, a closed-loop framework exhibits superior dynamic and static performance compared with its open-loop counterpart. Methods: This paper proposes a closed-loop approach, termed circular ECGSR (CECGSR), which models the degradation process from SR ECG signals to LR ones. The negative feedback mechanism of the closed-loop system is based on the differences between the LR ECG signals. A mathematical loop equation is constructed to characterize the closed-loop infrastructure. The Taylor series expansion is employed to demonstrate the near-zero steady-state error of the proposed method. A Plug-and-Play strategy is considered to establish the SR unit of the proposed architecture, leveraging any existing advanced open-loop ECGSR methods. This paper also presents Transformer model based open-loop ECGSR and closed-loop CECGSR algorithms. Results: Simulation experiments on both noiseless and noisy subsets of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt-Extra Large (PTB-XL) datasets demonstrate that the proposed CECGSR outperforms state-of-the-art open-loop ECGSR algorithms in the reconstruction performance of ECG signals. Conclusions: The proposed method will efficiently enrich ECG signal details and remove ECG signal artifacts in clinical applications.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2026

CIC: Circular Image Compression

Learned image compression (LIC) is currently the cutting-edge method. However, the inherent difference between testing and training images of LIC results in performance degradation to some extent. Especially for out-of-sample, out-of-distribution, or out-of-domain testing images, the performance of LIC degrades significantly. Classical LIC is a serial image compression (SIC) approach that utilizes an open-loop architecture with serial encoding and decoding units. Nevertheless, according to the principles of automatic control systems, a closed-loop architecture holds the potential to improve the dynamic and static performance of LIC. Therefore, a circular image compression (CIC) approach with closed-loop encoding and decoding elements is proposed to minimize the gap between testing and training images and upgrade the capability of LIC. The proposed CIC establishes a nonlinear loop equation and proves that steady-state error between reconstructed and original images is close to zero by Taylor series expansion. The proposed CIC method possesses the property of Post-Training and Plug-and-Play which can be built on any existing advanced SIC methods. Experimental results including rate-distortion curves on five public image compression datasets demonstrate that the proposed CIC outperforms eight competing state-of-the-art open-source SIC algorithms in reconstruction capacity. Experimental results further show that the proposed method is suitable for out-of-sample testing images with dark backgrounds, sharp edges, high contrast, grid shapes, or complex patterns.

eess.IV↗

arXiv2025

Spatial Insight: How Data-Driven Regions of Interest Selection Enhances Single-Trial P300 Classification in EEG-Based BCIs

EEG-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) frequently face spatial specificity limitations in detecting single-trial P300 potentials, a neurophysiological hallmark leveraged for both BCI control and neurodegenerative disease diagnostics. We present a novel framework combining eLORETA source localization with cross-subject functional connectivity to identify stable regions of interest (ROIs) across sessions. Analyzing 62-channel EEG data from 31 subjects (63 sessions, 2,520 trials), we demonstrate that phase-lagged connectivity metrics can reliably isolate task-relevant hubs in deeper cortical-subcortical structures like the insula and parietal regions - critical for Alzheimer's disease biomarkers. By integrating spatially stable ROIs with dynamic temporal agreement, our hybrid classification systematically outperforms whole-brain approaches in different frequency bands (up to 5.4% depending on the connectivity method and the spectral range) while maintaining millisecond-level temporal precision. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to establish cross-subject ROI consensus through source-space connectivity, bypassing scalp EEG's depth constraints to probe Alzheimer's-relevant networks. The framework's robustness to noise and compatibility with portable systems offer significant potential for global deployment in early neurodegenerative disease detection. Future integration of individualized anatomical data or adaptive parameter optimization could refine this tool for clinical deployment, enhancing the current max accuracy of 81.57% in the 1-15 Hz range.

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2025

A Memory-Efficient Retrieval Architecture for RAG-Enabled Wearable Medical LLMs-Agents

With powerful and integrative large language models (LLMs), medical AI agents have demonstrated unique advantages in providing personalized medical consultations, continuous health monitoring, and precise treatment plans. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) integrates personal medical documents into LLMs by an external retrievable database to address the costly retraining or fine-tuning issues in deploying customized agents. While deploying medical agents in edge devices ensures privacy protection, RAG implementations impose substantial memory access and energy consumption during the retrieval stage. This paper presents a hierarchical retrieval architecture for edge RAG, leveraging a two-stage retrieval scheme that combines approximate retrieval for candidate set generation, followed by high-precision retrieval on pre-selected document embeddings. The proposed architecture significantly reduces energy consumption and external memory access while maintaining retrieval accuracy. Simulation results show that, under TSMC 28nm technology, the proposed hierarchical retrieval architecture has reduced the overall memory access by nearly 50% and the computation by 75% compared to pure INT8 retrieval, and the total energy consumption for 1 MB data retrieval is 177.76 μJ/query.

cs.AR↗

arXiv2025

Does Re-referencing Matter? Large Laplacian Filter Optimizes Single-Trial P300 BCI Performance

Electroencephalography (EEG) provides a non-invasive window into brain activity, enabling Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for communication and control. However, their performance is limited by signal fidelity issues, among which the choice of re-referencing strategy is a pervasive but often overlooked preprocessing bias. Addressing controversies about its necessity and optimal choice, we adopted a quantified approach to evaluate four strategies - no re-referencing, Common Average Reference (CAR), small Laplacian, and large Laplacian - using 62-channels EEG (31 subjects, 2,520 trials). To our knowledge, this is the first study systematically quantifying their impact on single-trial P300 classification accuracy. Our controlled pipeline isolated re-referencing effects for source-space reconstruction (eLORETA with Phase Lag Index) and anatomically constrained classification. The large Laplacian resolves distributed P3b networks while maintaining P3a specificity, achieving the best P300 peak classification accuracy (81.57% hybrid method; 75.97% majority regions of interest). Performance follows a consistent and statistically significant hierarchy: large Laplacian > CAR > no re-reference > small Laplacian, providing a foundation for unified methodological evaluation.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2025

The Cost of Simplicity: How Reducing EEG Electrodes Affects Source Localization and BCI Accuracy

Electrode density optimization in electroencephalography (EEG)-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) requires balancing practical usability against signal fidelity, particularly for source localization. Reducing electrodes enhances portability but its effects on neural source reconstruction quality and source connectivity - treated as proxies to BCI performance - remain understudied. We address this gap through systematic evaluation of 62-, 32-, and 16-channel configurations using a fixed, fully automated processing pipeline applied to the well-characterized P300 potential. This approach's rationale is to minimize variability and bias inherent to EEG analysis by leveraging the P300's stimulus-locked reproducibility and pipeline standardization. Analyzing 63 sessions (31 subjects) from the Eye-BCI dataset with rigorous artifact correction and channel validation, we demonstrate: (1) Progressive degradation in source reconstruction quality with sparser configurations, including obscured deep neural generators and spatiotemporal distortions; (2) A novel sqrt(Re) scaling law linking electrode reduction ratio (Re) to localization accuracy - a previously unquantified relationship to the best of our knowledge; (3) While reduced configurations preserve basic P300 topography and may suffice for communicative BCIs, higher-density channels are essential for reliable deep source reconstruction. Overall, this study establishes a first step towards quantitative benchmarks for electrode selection, with critical implications for clinical BCIs requiring anatomical precision in applications like neurodegenerative disease monitoring, where compromised spatial resolution could mask pathological signatures. Most importantly, the sqrt(Re) scaling law may provide the first principled method to determine the minimal electrode density required based on acceptable error margins or expected effect sizes.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2025

Repetitive TMS-based Identification of Methamphetamine-Dependent Individuals Using EEG Spectra

The impact of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on methamphetamine (METH) users' craving levels is often assessed using questionnaires. This study explores the feasibility of using neural signals to obtain more objective results. EEG signals recorded from 20 METH-addicted participants Before and After rTMS (MBT and MAT) and from 20 healthy participants (HC) are analyzed. In each EEG paradigm, participants are shown 15 METH-related and 15 neutral pictures randomly, and the relative band power (RBP) of each EEG sub-band frequency is derived. The average RBP across all 31 channels, as well as individual brain regions, is analyzed. Statistically, MAT's alpha, beta, and gamma RBPs are more like those of HC compared to MBT, as indicated by the power topographies. Utilizing a random forest (RF), the gamma RBP is identified as the optimal frequency band for distinguishing between MBT and HC with a 90% accuracy. The performance of classifying MAT versus HC is lower than that of MBT versus HC, suggesting that the efficacy of rTMS can be validated using RF with gamma RBP. Furthermore, the gamma RBP recorded by the TP10 and CP2 channels dominates the classification task of MBT versus HC when receiving METH-related image cues. The gamma RBP during exposure to METH-related cues can serve as a biomarker for distinguishing between MBT and HC and for evaluating the effectiveness of rTMS. Therefore, real-time monitoring of gamma RBP variations holds promise as a parameter for implementing a customized closed-loop neuromodulation system for treating METH addiction.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2025

From Noise to Insight: Visualizing Neural Dynamics with Segmented SNR Topographies for Improved EEG-BCI Performance

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based wearable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) face challenges due to low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and non-stationary neural activity. We introduce in this manuscript a mathematically rigorous framework that combines data-driven noise interval evaluation with advanced SNR visualization to address these limitations. Analysis of the publicly available Eye-BCI multimodal dataset demonstrates the method's ability to recover canonical P300 characteristics across frequency bands (delta: 0.5-4 Hz, theta: 4-7.5 Hz, broadband: 1-15 Hz), with precise spatiotemporal localization of both P3a (frontocentral) and P3b (parietal) subcomponents. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically assess the impact of noise interval selection on EEG signal quality. Cross-session correlations for four different choices of noise intervals spanning from early to late pre-stimulus phases also indicate that alertness and task engagement states modulate noise interval sensitivity, suggesting broader applications for adaptive BCI systems. While validated in healthy participants, our results represent a first step towards providing clinicians with an interpretable tool for detecting neurophysiological abnormalities and provides quantifiable metrics for system optimization.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2025

CSDformer: A Conversion Method for Fully Spike-Driven Transformer

Spike-based transformer is a novel architecture aiming to enhance the performance of spiking neural networks while mitigating the energy overhead inherent to transformers. However, methods for generating these models suffer from critical limitations: excessive training costs introduced by direct training methods, or unavoidably hardware-unfriendly operations in existing conversion methods. In this paper, we propose CSDformer, a novel conversion method for fully spike-driven transformers. We tailor a conversion-oriented transformer-based architecture and propose a new function NReLU to replace softmax in self-attention. Subsequently, this model is quantized and trained, and converted into a fully spike-driven model with temporal decomposition technique. Also, we propose delayed Integrate-andFire neurons to reduce conversion errors and improve the performance of spiking models. We evaluate CSDformer on ImageNet, CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 datasets and achieve 76.36% top-1 accuracy under 7 time-steps on ImageNet, demonstrating superiority over state-of-the-art models. Furthermore, CSDformer eliminates the need for training SNNs, thereby reducing training costs (reducing computational resource by 75% and accelerating training speed by 2-3$\times$). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully spike-driven transformer-based model developed via conversion method, achieving high performance under ultra-low latency, while dramatically reducing both computational complexity and training overhead.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Ultra-Low-Latency Spiking Neural Networks with Temporal-Dependent Integrate-and-Fire Neuron Model for Objects Detection

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), inspired by the brain, are characterized by minimal power consumption and swift inference capabilities on neuromorphic hardware, and have been widely applied to various visual perception tasks. Current ANN-SNN conversion methods have achieved excellent results in classification tasks with ultra-low time-steps, but their performance in visual detection tasks remains suboptimal. In this paper, we propose a delay-spike approach to mitigate the issue of residual membrane potential caused by heterogeneous spiking patterns. Furthermore, we propose a novel temporal-dependent Integrate-and-Fire (tdIF) neuron architecture for SNNs. This enables Integrate-and-fire (IF) neurons to dynamically adjust their accumulation and firing behaviors based on the temporal order of time-steps. Our method enables spikes to exhibit distinct temporal properties, rather than relying solely on frequency-based representations. Moreover, the tdIF neuron maintains energy consumption on par with traditional IF neuron. We demonstrate that our method achieves more precise feature representation with lower time-steps, enabling high performance and ultra-low latency in visual detection tasks. In this study, we conduct extensive evaluation of the tdIF method across two critical vision tasks: object detection and lane line detection. The results demonstrate that the proposed method surpasses current ANN-SNN conversion approaches, achieving state-of-the-art performance with ultra-low latency (within 5 time-steps).

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Neuro-MoBRE: Exploring Multi-subject Multi-task Intracranial Decoding via Explicit Heterogeneity Resolving

Neurophysiological decoding, fundamental to advancing brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, has significantly benefited from recent advances in deep learning. However, existing decoding approaches largely remain constrained to single-task scenarios and individual subjects, limiting their broader applicability and generalizability. Efforts towards creating large-scale neurophysiological foundation models have shown promise, but continue to struggle with significant challenges due to pervasive data heterogeneity across subjects and decoding tasks. Simply increasing model parameters and dataset size without explicitly addressing this heterogeneity fails to replicate the scaling successes seen in natural language processing. Here, we introduce the Neural Mixture of Brain Regional Experts (Neuro-MoBRE), a general-purpose decoding framework explicitly designed to manage the ubiquitous data heterogeneity in neurophysiological modeling. Neuro-MoBRE incorporates a brain-regional-temporal embedding mechanism combined with a mixture-of-experts approach, assigning neural signals from distinct brain regions to specialized regional experts on a unified embedding basis, thus explicitly resolving both structural and functional heterogeneity. Additionally, our region-masked autoencoding pre-training strategy further enhances representational consistency among subjects, complemented by a task-disentangled information aggregation method tailored to effectively handle task-specific neural variations. Evaluations conducted on intracranial recordings from 11 subjects across five diverse tasks, including complex language decoding and epileptic seizure diagnosis, demonstrate that Neuro-MoBRE surpasses prior art and exhibits robust generalization for zero-shot decoding on unseen subjects.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

NeuroCLIP: A Multimodal Contrastive Learning Method for rTMS-treated Methamphetamine Addiction Analysis

Methamphetamine dependence poses a significant global health challenge, yet its assessment and the evaluation of treatments like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) frequently depend on subjective self-reports, which may introduce uncertainties. While objective neuroimaging modalities such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offer alternatives, their individual limitations and the reliance on conventional, often hand-crafted, feature extraction can compromise the reliability of derived biomarkers. To overcome these limitations, we propose NeuroCLIP, a novel deep learning framework integrating simultaneously recorded EEG and fNIRS data through a progressive learning strategy. This approach offers a robust and trustworthy biomarker for methamphetamine addiction. Validation experiments show that NeuroCLIP significantly improves discriminative capabilities among the methamphetamine-dependent individuals and healthy controls compared to models using either EEG or only fNIRS alone. Furthermore, the proposed framework facilitates objective, brain-based evaluation of rTMS treatment efficacy, demonstrating measurable shifts in neural patterns towards healthy control profiles after treatment. Critically, we establish the trustworthiness of the multimodal data-driven biomarker by showing its strong correlation with psychometrically validated craving scores. These findings suggest that biomarker derived from EEG-fNIRS data via NeuroCLIP offers enhanced robustness and reliability over single-modality approaches, providing a valuable tool for addiction neuroscience research and potentially improving clinical assessments.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Towards Unified Neural Decoding with Brain Functional Network Modeling

Recent achievements in implantable brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) have demonstrated the potential to decode cognitive and motor behaviors with intracranial brain recordings; however, individual physiological and electrode implantation heterogeneities have constrained current approaches to neural decoding within single individuals, rendering interindividual neural decoding elusive. Here, we present Multi-individual Brain Region-Aggregated Network (MIBRAIN), a neural decoding framework that constructs a whole functional brain network model by integrating intracranial neurophysiological recordings across multiple individuals. MIBRAIN leverages self-supervised learning to derive generalized neural prototypes and supports group-level analysis of brain-region interactions and inter-subject neural synchrony. To validate our framework, we recorded stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) signals from a cohort of individuals performing Mandarin syllable articulation. Both real-time online and offline decoding experiments demonstrated significant improvements in both audible and silent articulation decoding, enhanced decoding accuracy with increased multi-subject data integration, and effective generalization to unseen subjects. Furthermore, neural predictions for regions without direct electrode coverage were validated against authentic neural data. Overall, this framework paves the way for robust neural decoding across individuals and offers insights for practical clinical applications.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2025

Poststroke rehabilitative mechanisms in individualized fatigue level-controlled treadmill training -- a Rat Model Study

Individualized training improved post-stroke motor function rehabilitation efficiency. However, the mechanisms of how individualized training facilitates recovery is not clear. This study explored the cortical and corticomuscular rehabilitative effects in post-stroke motor function recovery during individualized training. Sprague-Dawley rats with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) were randomly distributed into two groups: forced training (FOR-T, n=13) and individualized fatigue-controlled training (FAT-C, n=13) to receive training respectively from day 2 to day 14 post-stroke. The FAT-C group exhibited superior motor function recovery and less central fatigue compared to the FOR-T group. EEG PSD slope analysis demonstrated a better inter-hemispheric balance in FAT-C group compare to the FOR-T group. The dCMC analysis indicated that training-induced fatigue led to a short-term down-regulation of descending corticomuscular coherence (dCMC) and an up-regulation of ascending dCMC. In the long term, excessive fatigue hindered the recovery of descending control in the affected hemisphere. The individualized strategy of peripheral fatigue-controlled training achieved better motor function recovery, which could be attributed to the mitigation of central fatigue, optimization of inter-hemispheric balance and enhancement of descending control in the affected hemisphere.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Towards Homogeneous Lexical Tone Decoding from Heterogeneous Intracranial Recordings

Recent advancements in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have enabled the decoding of lexical tones from intracranial recordings, offering the potential to restore the communication abilities of speech-impaired tonal language speakers. However, data heterogeneity induced by both physiological and instrumental factors poses a significant challenge for unified invasive brain tone decoding. Traditional subject-specific models, which operate under a heterogeneous decoding paradigm, fail to capture generalized neural representations and cannot effectively leverage data across subjects. To address these limitations, we introduce Homogeneity-Heterogeneity Disentangled Learning for neural Representations (H2DiLR), a novel framework that disentangles and learns both the homogeneity and heterogeneity from intracranial recordings across multiple subjects. To evaluate H2DiLR, we collected stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) data from multiple participants reading Mandarin materials comprising 407 syllables, representing nearly all Mandarin characters. Extensive experiments demonstrate that H2DiLR, as a unified decoding paradigm, significantly outperforms the conventional heterogeneous decoding approach. Furthermore, we empirically confirm that H2DiLR effectively captures both homogeneity and heterogeneity during neural representation learning.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

SynDCIM: A Performance-Aware Digital Computing-in-Memory Compiler with Multi-Spec-Oriented Subcircuit Synthesis

Digital Computing-in-Memory (DCIM) is an innovative technology that integrates multiply-accumulation (MAC) logic directly into memory arrays to enhance the performance of modern AI computing. However, the need for customized memory cells and logic components currently necessitates significant manual effort in DCIM design. Existing tools for facilitating DCIM macro designs struggle to optimize subcircuit synthesis to meet user-defined performance criteria, thereby limiting the potential system-level acceleration that DCIM can offer. To address these challenges and enable agile design of DCIM macros with optimal architectures, we present SynDCIM, a performance-aware DCIM compiler that employs multi-spec-oriented subcircuit synthesis. SynDCIM features an automated performance-to-layout generation process that aligns with user-defined performance expectations. This is supported by a scalable subcircuit library and a multi-spec-oriented searching algorithm for effective subcircuit synthesis. The effectiveness of SynDCIM is demonstrated through extensive experiments and validated with a test chip fabricated in a 40nm CMOS process. Testing results reveal that designs generated by SynDCIM exhibit competitive performance when compared to state-of-the-art manually designed DCIM macros.

cs.AR↗