VLDB 2026 Research / reviewers in the wild / expert
Farhad Pourpanah
dblp:175/5159
· DBLP profile ↗
16ranked-venue papers
6as first author
12since 2021 · last 2026
0000-0002-7122-9975ORCID · verified
Domains — the database's venue-derived domains; a paper can count in several
Artificial intelligence and machine learning · 13 · 5 first-author · 9 since 2021Graphics, computer vision, multimedia, augmented reality and games · 2 · 1 first-author · 2 since 2021Databases, data management, data science and information retrieval · 1 · 1 since 2021Applied, interdisciplinary, general and emerging computing · 1 · 1 first-author · 1 since 2021
| Year | Publication | Venue | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Contrastive adapter training and consensus knowledge distillation for multi-source-free domain adaptation in skin cancer diagnosisabstractSkin cancer diagnosis, particularly the differentiation of melanoma from benign nevi, is a vital yet challenging task due to the visual similarity between lesions. Although deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and vision transformers (ViTs) have demonstrated promising performance, their effectiveness often deteriorates when applied to data from heterogeneous clinical sources. While conventional domain adaptation methods address domain shift, they require access to source data during adaptation, which is often infeasible due to privacy regulations. Multi-source-free unsupervised domain adaptation (MSFDA) addresses this limitation by leveraging multiple labeled source domains to generalize to an unlabeled target domain without requiring access to source data, making it suitable for privacy-sensitive medical settings. However, existing MSFDA methods rely on full backbone fine-tuning, leading to catastrophic forgetting and overfitting on small clinical datasets, and address domain shift at the aggregation stage without establishing a shared domain-invariant feature space. Furthermore, their reliance on hard pseudo-labels or confidence-weighted aggregation introduces noisy supervision signals under domain shift. To address these limitations, we propose CAT-CKD, consisting of two components: (1) contrastive adapter training (CAT), which trains lightweight ConvPass adapters within a frozen ViT backbone using supervised contrastive learning (SCL) to establish a shared domain-invariant feature space before source-specific model training, and (2) consensus knowledge distillation (CKD), which aggregates logits from multiple source models into a consensus supervisory signal and adapts a student model on unlabeled target data using KL divergence. Experiments on five publicly available skin lesion datasets show that CAT-CKD achieves an average AUROC of 86.1%, outperforming existing MSFDA methods while requiring only 4.3M trainable parameters. The code for this paper is available at https://github.com/A-Abedi/CAT_CKD. Ali Abedi 0010, Q. M. Jonathan Wu, Ning Zhang 0007, Farhad Pourpanah |
Artif. Intell. Medicine | 4 |
| 2026 | One-shot federated unsupervised domain adaptation with Smoothed Knowledge Distillation and teacher refinementabstractFederated unsupervised domain adaptation (FUDA) addresses the challenge of adapting models to an unlabeled target domain using decentralized source domains while preserving data privacy. However, existing FUDA methods typically require multiple communication rounds, rely on complex aggregation strategies, and often struggle with noisy pseudo labels and inconsistent source knowledge. To address these challenges, we propose SKD-ETR, a novel one-shot FUDA framework that combines Smoothed Knowledge Distillation (SKD) and Exponential moving average-based Teacher Refinement (ETR). SKD trains a student model on the target domain using smoothed soft pseudo labels generated by the ensemble of source models. This reduces overconfidence, mitigates noise, and improves robustness. ETR further refines each source model by interpolating its parameters toward the student via exponential moving average (EMA), thereby transferring target-domain knowledge back to the teachers. This bidirectional refinement enhances pseudo-label quality and student generalization without additional communication overhead. SKD-ETR eliminates complex aggregation by initializing the student model randomly and performing a single-round distillation process. Extensive experiments on OfficeHome, Office-Caltech, and DomainNet demonstrate that SKD-ETR achieves competitive performance while being communication- and computation-efficient, and robust under noisy supervision. The code for this paper is available at https://github.com/A-Abedi/SKD_ETR . • A one-shot FUDA framework using knowledge distillation without source data access. • Smoothed pseudo labels reduce noise and improve student model robustness. • Teacher refinement via EMA enhances generalization with no extra communication. • Random target model initialization avoids biased aggregation and enables efficient adaptation. Ali Abedi 0010, Q. M. Jonathan Wu, Ning Zhang 0007, Farhad Pourpanah |
Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell. | 4 |
| 2025 | Federated Unsupervised Domain Generalization Using Global and Local Alignment of GradientsabstractWe address the problem of federated domain generalization in an unsupervised setting for the first time. We first theoretically establish a connection between domain shift and alignment of gradients in unsupervised federated learning and show that aligning the gradients at both client and server levels can facilitate the generalization of the model to new (target) domains. Building on this insight, we propose a novel method named FedGaLA, which performs gradient alignment at the client level to encourage clients to learn domain-invariant features, as well as global gradient alignment at the server to obtain a more generalized aggregated model. To empirically evaluate our method, we perform various experiments on four commonly used multi-domain datasets, PACS, OfficeHome, DomainNet, and TerraInc. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method which outperforms comparable baselines. Ablation and sensitivity studies demonstrate the impact of different components and parameters in our approach. Farhad Pourpanah, Mahdiyar Molahasani, Milad Soltany, Michael A. Greenspan, Ali Etemad |
AAAI | 1 |
| 2025 | Federated Domain Generalization with Label Smoothing and Balanced Decentralized TrainingabstractIn this paper, we propose a novel approach, Federated Domain Generalization with Label Smoothing and Balanced Decentralized Training (FedSB), to address the challenges of data heterogeneity within a federated learning framework. FedSB utilizes label smoothing at the client level to prevent overfitting to domain-specific features, thereby enhancing generalization capabilities across diverse domains when aggregating local models into a global model. Additionally, FedSB incorporates a decentralized budgeting mechanism which balances training among clients, which is shown to improve the performance of the aggregated global model. Extensive experiments on four commonly used multi-domain datasets, PACS, VLCS, OfficeHome, and TerraInc, demonstrate that FedSB outperforms competing methods, achieving state-of-the-art results on three out of four datasets, indicating the effectiveness of FedSB in addressing data heterogeneity. Milad Soltany, Farhad Pourpanah, Mahdiyar Molahasani, Michael A. Greenspan, Ali Etemad |
ICASSP | 2 |
| 2024 | Self-supervised adversarial adaptation network for breast cancer detectionabstractBreast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, and early detection is essential for reducing mortality rates. Digital mammography is currently the best standard for early detection, as it can assist physicians in treating the disease. However, inaccurate diagnoses from mammography are common and can lead to patients undergoing unnecessary tests and treatments. To address this challenge, deep-learning techniques have shown promising results in improving the accuracy and reliability of breast cancer detection. However, existing methods face two primary challenges: the lack of the annotated data, and the inability to adapt to new data domains. In this paper, we propose SelfAdaptNet to address these issues. Specifically, SelfAdaptNet employs self-supervised learning techniques, such as Bootstrap Your Own Latent (BYOL) and Simple Framework for Learning of Visual Representations (SimCLR), to tackle the problem of limited annotated data. Additionally, the adversarial technique is used to address the problem of domain shift. By successfully reducing domain disparities, this strategy enhances the model’s adaptability and robustness across a variety of clinical scenarios. Overall, our contributions offer a more effective and flexible approach for early breast cancer detection, and experimental results demonstrate that SelfAdaptNet can produce promising results as compared with other methods. Mahnoosh Torabi, Amir Hosein Rasouli, Q. M. Jonathan Wu, Weipeng Cao, Farhad Pourpanah |
Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell. | 5 |
| 2024 | Exploring the Landscape of Ubiquitous In-home Health Monitoring: A Comprehensive SurveyabstractUbiquitous in-home health monitoring systems have become popular in recent years due to the rise of digital health technologies and the growing demand for remote health monitoring. These systems enable individuals to increase their independence by allowing them to monitor their health from the home and by allowing more control over their well-being. In this study, we perform a comprehensive survey on this topic by reviewing a large number of literature in the area. We investigate these systems from various aspects, namely sensing technologies, communication technologies, intelligent and computing systems, and application areas. Specifically, we provide an overview of in-home health monitoring systems and identify their main components. We then present each component and discuss its role within in-home health monitoring systems. In addition, we provide an overview of the practical use of ubiquitous technologies in the home for health monitoring. Finally, we identify the main challenges and limitations based on the existing literature and provide eight recommendations for potential future research directions toward the development of in-home health monitoring systems. We conclude that despite extensive research on various components needed for the development of effective in-home health monitoring systems, the development of effective in-home health monitoring systems still requires further investigation. Farhad Pourpanah, Ali Etemad |
ACM Trans. Comput. Heal. | 1 |
| 2024 | Methods for class-imbalanced learning with support vector machines: a review and an empirical evaluation
Salim Rezvani, Farhad Pourpanah, Chee Peng Lim, Q. M. Jonathan Wu |
Soft Comput. | 2 |
| 2023 | Employing machine learning techniques in monitoring autocorrelated profilesabstractAbstract In profile monitoring, it is usually assumed that the observations between or within each profile are independent of each other. However, this assumption is often violated in manufacturing practice, and it is of utmost importance to carefully consider autocorrelation effects in the underlying models for profile monitoring. For this reason, various statistical control charts have been proposed to monitor profiles when between- or within-data is correlated in Phase II, in which the main aim is to develop control charts with quicker detection ability. As a novel approach, this study aims to employ machine learning techniques as control charts instead of statistical approaches in monitoring profiles with between-profile autocorrelations. Specifically, new input features based on conventional statistical control chart statistics and normalized estimated parameters are defined that are capable of adequately accounting for the between-autocorrelation effect of profiles. In addition, six machine learning techniques are extended and compared by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results indicate that machine learning techniques can obtain more accurate results compared with statistical control charts. Moreover, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems outperform other machine learning techniques and the conventional statistical control charts. Ali Yeganeh, Arne Johannssen, Nataliya Chukhrova, Saddam Akber Abbasi, Farhad Pourpanah |
Neural Comput. Appl. | 5 |
| 2023 | A Review of Generalized Zero-Shot Learning MethodsabstractGeneralized zero-shot learning (GZSL) aims to train a model for classifying data samples under the condition that some output classes are unknown during supervised learning. To address this challenging task, GZSL leverages semantic information of the seen (source) and unseen (target) classes to bridge the gap between both seen and unseen classes. Since its introduction, many GZSL models have been formulated. In this review paper, we present a comprehensive review on GZSL. First, we provide an overview of GZSL including the problems and challenges. Then, we introduce a hierarchical categorization for the GZSL methods and discuss the representative methods in each category. In addition, we discuss the available benchmark data sets and applications of GZSL, along with a discussion on the research gaps and directions for future investigations. Farhad Pourpanah, Moloud Abdar, Xinlei Zhou, Ran Wang 0001, Chee Peng Lim, Xizhao Wang, Q. M. Jonathan Wu |
IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. | 1 |
| 2022 | An ensemble neural network framework for improving the detection ability of a base control chart in non-parametric profile monitoring
Ali Yeganeh, Saddam Akber Abbasi, Farhad Pourpanah, Alireza Shadman, Arne Johannssen, Nataliya Chukhrova |
Expert Syst. Appl. | 3 |
| 2022 | A survey on epistemic (model) uncertainty in supervised learning: Recent advances and applications
Xinlei Zhou, Han Liu 0002, Farhad Pourpanah, Tieyong Zeng, Xizhao Wang |
Neurocomputing | 3 |
| 2022 | Cross-graph reference structure based pruning and edge context information for graph matching
Md Shakil Ahamed Shohag, Xiuyang Zhao, Q. M. Jonathan Wu, Farhad Pourpanah |
Inf. Sci. | 4 |
| 2019 | A hybrid model of fuzzy min-max and brain storm optimization for feature selection and data classification
Farhad Pourpanah, Chee Peng Lim, Xizhao Wang, Choo Jun Tan, Manjeevan Seera, Yuhui Shi 0001 |
Neurocomputing | 1 |
| 2019 | An improved fuzzy ARTMAP and Q-learning agent model for pattern classification
Farhad Pourpanah, Ran Wang 0001, Chee Peng Lim, Xizhao Wang, Manjeevan Seera, Choo Jun Tan |
Neurocomputing | 1 |
| 2019 | Intuitionistic Fuzzy Twin Support Vector MachinesabstractFuzzy twin support vector machine (FTSVM) is an effective machine learning technique that is able to overcome the negative impact of noise and outliers in tackling data classification problems. In the FTSVM, the degree of membership function in the sample space describes the space between input data and class center, while ignoring the position of input data in the feature space and simply miscalculated the ledge support vectors as noises. This paper presents an intuitionistic FTSVM (IFTSVM) that combines the idea of intuitionistic fuzzy number with twin support vector machine (TSVM). An adequate fuzzy membership is employed to reduce the noise created by the pollutant inputs. Two functions, i.e., linear and nonlinear, are used to formulate two nonparallel hyperplanes. An IFTSVM not only reduces the influence of noises, it also distinguishes the noises from the support vectors. Further, this modification can minimize a newly formulated structural risk and improve the classification accuracy. Two artificial and eleven benchmark problems are employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed IFTSVM model. To quantify the results statistically, the bootstrap technique with the 95% confidence intervals is used. The outcome shows that an IFTSVM is able to produce promising results as compared with those from the original support vector machine, fuzzy support vector machine, FTSVM, and other models reported in the literature. Salim Rezvani, Xizhao Wang, Farhad Pourpanah |
IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Syst. | 3 |
| 2016 | A hybrid model of fuzzy ARTMAP and genetic algorithm for data classification and rule extraction
Farhad Pourpanah, Chee Peng Lim, Junita Mohamad-Saleh |
Expert Syst. Appl. | 1 |