The rapid advancement of medical imaging technologies requires the development of advanced, automated, and interpretable diagnostic tools for clinical decision-making. Although convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown significant promise in medical image analysis, they have limitations in capturing the global context and lack interpretability, thereby hindering their clinical adoption. This study presents EFFResNet-ViT, a novel hybrid deep learning (DL) model designed to address these challenges by combining EfficientNet-B0 and ResNet-50 CNN backbones with a vision transformer (ViT) module. The proposed architecture employs a feature fusion strategy to integrate the local feature extraction strengths of CNNs with the global dependency modeling capabilities of transformers. The extracted features are further refined through a post-transformer CNN and a global average pooling layer to enhance the classification performance. To improve interpretability, EFFResNet-ViT incorporates Grad-CAM visualization techniques to highlight regions contributing to classification decisions and employs t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding for feature space analysis, providing insights into class separability. The proposed model was evaluated on two benchmark datasets: brain tumor (BT) CE-MRI for brain tumor classification and a retinal image dataset for ophthalmological diagnosis. EFFResNet-ViT achieved state-of-the-art performance, with accuracies of 99.31% and 92.54% on the BT CE-MRI and retinal datasets, respectively. Comparative analyses demonstrate the superior classification performance and interpretability of EFFResNet-ViT over existingViT and CNN-based hybrid models. The explainable design of EFFResNet-ViT addresses the critical need for transparency in artificial intelligence-driven medical diagnostics, facilitating its potential integration into clinical workflows to improve decision-making and patient outcomes.

Groundwater represents a pivotal asset in conserving natural water reservoirs for potable consumption, irrigation, and diverse industrial uses. Nevertheless, human activities intertwined with industry and agriculture contribute significantly to groundwater contamination, highlighting the critical necessity of appraising water quality for safe drinking and effective irrigation. This research primarily focused on employing the Water Quality Index (WQI) to gauge water’s appropriateness for these purposes. However, the generation of an accurate WQI can prove time-intensive owing to potential errors in sub-index calculations. In response to this challenge, an artificial intelligence (AI) forecasting model was devised, aiming to streamline the process while mitigating errors. The study collected 422 data samples from Mirpurkash, a city nestled in the province of Sindh, for a comprehensive exploration of the region’s WQI attributes. Furthermore, the study probed into unraveling the interdependencies amidst variables in the physiochemical analysis of water. Diverse machine learning classifiers were employed for WQI prediction, with findings revealing that Random Forest and Gradient Boosting lead with 95% and 96% accuracy, followed closely by SVM at 92%. KNN exhibits an accuracy rate of 84%, and Decision Trees achieve 77%. Traditional water quality assessment methods are time-consuming and error-prone; a transformative approach using artificial intelligence and machine learning addresses these limitations. In addition to WQI prediction, the study conducted an uncertainty analysis of the models using the R-factor, providing insights into the reliability and consistency of predictions. This dual approach, combining accurate WQI prediction with uncertainty assessment, contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of water quality in Mirpurkash and enhances the reliability of decision-making processes related to groundwater utilization.

Algorithms for machine learning have found extensive use in numerous fields and applications. One important aspect of effectively utilizing these algorithms is tuning the hyperparameters to match the specific task at hand. The selection and configuration of hyperparameters directly impact the performance of machine learning models. Achieving optimal hyperparameter settings often requires a deep understanding of the underlying models and the appropriate optimization techniques. While there are many automatic optimization techniques available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, this article focuses on hyperparameter optimization for well-known machine learning models. It explores cutting-edge optimization methods such as metaheuristic algorithms, deep learning-based optimization, Bayesian optimization, and quantum optimization, and our paper focused mainly on metaheuristic and Bayesian optimization techniques and provides guidance on applying them to different machine learning algorithms. The article also presents real-world applications of hyperparameter optimization by conducting tests on spatial data collections for landslide susceptibility mapping. Based on the experiment’s results, both Bayesian optimization and metaheuristic algorithms showed promising performance compared to baseline algorithms. For instance, the metaheuristic algorithm boosted the random forest model’s overall accuracy by 5% and 3%, respectively, from baseline optimization methods GS and RS, and by 4% and 2% from baseline optimization methods GA and PSO. Additionally, for models like KNN and SVM, Bayesian methods with Gaussian processes had good results. When compared to the baseline algorithms RS and GS, the accuracy of the KNN model was enhanced by BO-TPE by 1% and 11%, respectively, and by BO-GP by 2% and 12%, respectively. For SVM, BO-TPE outperformed GS and RS by 6% in terms of performance, while BO-GP improved results by 5%. The paper thoroughly discusses the reasons behind the efficiency of these algorithms. By successfully identifying appropriate hyperparameter configurations, this research paper aims to assist researchers, spatial data analysts, and industrial users in developing machine learning models more effectively. The findings and insights provided in this paper can contribute to enhancing the performance and applicability of machine learning algorithms in various domains.

The most frequent and noticeable natural calamity in the Karakoram region is landslides. Extreme landslides have occurred frequently along Karakoram Highway, particularly during monsoons, causing a major loss of life and property. Therefore, it is necessary to look for a solution to increase growth and vigilance in order to lessen losses related to landslides caused by natural disasters. By utilizing contemporary technologies, an early warning system might be developed. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely used nowadays across many industries. This paper’s major goal is to provide new integrative models for assessing landslide susceptibility in a prone area in the north of Pakistan. To achieve this, the training of an artificial neural network (ANN) was supervised using metaheuristic and Bayesian techniques: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, Genetic algorithm (GA), Bayesian Optimization Gaussian Process (BO_GP), and Bayesian Optimization Tree-structured Parzen Estimator (BO_TPE). In total, 304 previous landslides and the eight most prevalent conditioning elements were combined to form a geospatial database. The models were hyperparameter optimized, and the best ones were employed to generate susceptibility maps. The obtained area under the curve (AUC) accuracy index demonstrated that the maps produced by both Bayesian and metaheuristic algorithms are highly accurate. The effectiveness and efficiency of applying ANNs for landslide mapping, susceptibility analysis, and forecasting were studied in this research, and it was observed from experimentation that the performance differences for GA, BO_GP, and PSO compared to BO_TPE were relatively small, ranging from 0.32% to 1.84%. This suggests that these techniques achieved comparable performance to BO_TPE in terms of AUC. However, it is important to note that the significance of these differences can vary depending on the specific context and requirements of the ML task. Additionally, in this study, we explore eight feature selection algorithms to determine the geospatial variable importance for landslide susceptibility mapping along the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The algorithms considered include Information Gain, Variance Inflation Factor, OneR Classifier, Subset Evaluators, principal components, Relief Attribute Evaluator, correlation, and Symmetrical Uncertainty. These algorithms enable us to evaluate the relevance and significance of different geospatial variables in predicting landslide susceptibility. By applying these feature selection algorithms, we aim to identify the most influential geospatial variables that contribute to landslide occurrences along the KKH. The algorithms encompass a diverse range of techniques, such as measuring entropy reduction, accounting for attribute bias, generating single rules, evaluating feature subsets, reducing dimensionality, and assessing correlation and information sharing. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights into the critical geospatial variables associated with landslide susceptibility along the KKH. These insights can aid in the development of effective landslide mitigation strategies, infrastructure planning, and targeted hazard management efforts. Additionally, the study contributes to the field of geospatial analysis by showcasing the applicability and effectiveness of various feature selection algorithms in the context of landslide susceptibility mapping.

At present, voice biometrics are commonly used for identification and authentication of users through their voice. Voice based services such as mobile banking, access to personal devices, and logging into social networks are the common examples of authenticating users through voice biometrics. In Pakistan, voice-based services are very common in banking and mobile/cellular sector, however, these services do not use voice features to recognize customers. Therefore, the chance to use these services with false identity is always high. It is essential to design a voice-based recognition system to minimize the risk of false identity. In this paper, we developed regional voice datasets for voice biometrics, by collecting voice data in different local accents of Pakistan. Although, there is a global need for voice biometrics especially when voice-based services are common, however, this paper uses Pakistan as a use case to show how to build regional voice dataset for voice biometrics. To build voice dataset, voice samples were recorded from 180 male and female speakers with two languages English and Urdu in form of five regional accents. Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features were extracted from the collected voice samples to train Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest (RF) and K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifiers. The results indicate that ANN outperformed SVM, RF and KNN by achieving 88.53% and 86.58% recognition accuracy on both datasets respectively.

The most frequent, noticeable, and frequent natural calamity in the karakoram region is landslides. Extreme landslides have occurred frequently along Karakoram highway, particularly during the monsoon, causing a major loss of life and property. Therefore, it was necessary to look for a solution to increase growth and vigilance in order to lessen losses related to landslides caused by natural disasters. By utilizing contemporary technologies, an early warning system might be developed. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely used nowadays across many industries. This paper's major goal is to provide new integrative models for assessing landslide susceptibility in a prone area of north of Pakistan. To do this, the training of an artificial neural network (ANN) is supervised using metaheuristic and Bayesian techniques: particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), Genetic algorithm (GA), Bayesian optimization Gaussian process (BO_GP), and Bayesian optimization Gaussian process (BO_TPE). 304 previous landslides and the eight most prevalent conditioning elements combine to form a geographical database. The models are hyper-parameter optimized, and the best ones are employed to generate the susceptibility maps. The area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUROC) accuracy index found demonstrated that the maps produced by both Bayesian and metaheuristic algorithms are highly accurate. The effectiveness and efficiency of applying artificial neural networks (ANNs) for landslide mapping, susceptibility analysis, and forecasting are studied in this research it’s observed from experimentation that the performance differences for GA, BO_GP, and PSO compared to BO_TPE are relatively small, ranging from 0.3166% to 1.8399%. This suggests that these techniques achieved comparable performance to BO_TPE in terms of AUC. However, it's important to note that the significance of these differences can vary depending on the specific context and requirements of the ML task. Additionally in this study, we explore eight feature selection algorithms to determine the geospatial variable importance for landslide susceptibility mapping along the KKH. The algorithms considered include Information Gain, Gain Ratio, OneR Classifier, Subset Evaluators, Principal Components, Relief Attribute Evaluator, Correlation, and Symmetrical Uncertainty. These algorithms enable us to evaluate the relevance and significance of different geospatial variables in predicting landslide susceptibility. By applying these feature selection algorithms, we aim to identify the most influential geospatial variables that contribute to landslide occurrences along the KKH. The algorithms encompass a diverse range of techniques, such as measuring entropy reduction, accounting for attribute bias, generating single rules, evaluating feature subsets, reducing dimensionality, and assessing correlation and information sharing. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights into the critical geospatial variables associated with landslide susceptibility along the KKH. These insights can aid in the development of effective landslide mitigation strategies, infrastructure planning, and targeted hazard management efforts. Additionally, the study contributes to the field of geospatial analysis by showcasing the applicability and effectiveness of various feature selection algorithms in the context of landslide susceptibility mapping.