In the era of big data, clustering and data mining have become essential tools for uncovering patterns and insights from vast datasets. However, these processes often involve the use of sensitive data, raising significant concerns about privacy, security, and trustworthiness. This paper proposes N2P-CM, a novel privacy-preserving framework designed to protect sensitive information during the entire clustering and mining lifecycle. Unlike existing methods that focus on partial aspects of security or apply generic encryption techniques, N2P-CM integrates five innovative and synergistic modules: Sensitive Feature Obfuscation, Adaptive Trust Weight Aggregation, Compressed Secure Semantic Embedding, Differential Traceable Execution Engine, and Blockchain Auditable Ledger. Each module contributes a distinct layer of privacy and accountability, ranging from feature-level data transformation and federated trust scoring to secure semantic encoding and traceable execution logging with blockchain support. We provide formal definitions and algorithms for each module and demonstrate their integration in a unified architecture. Extensive simulations using real-world datasets validate the efficacy of N2P-CM, showing that it achieves strong privacy guarantees with minimal degradation in clustering accuracy. This research contributes a comprehensive and modular solution to the growing need for privacy-preserving analytics in sensitive domains such as healthcare, finance, and smart cities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of key organizational readiness dimensions and extrinsic motivation on the teaching staff’s intention toward the continued voluntary use of e-learning innovations post COVID-19 pandemic. These effects have not received considerable focus in the extant e-learning literature. To mitigate this lack, an integrated model encompassing dimensions from several organizational readiness frameworks and a motivational theory was developed. The model postulated these dimensions as direct determinants of the e-learning innovations continuance intention. A structured questionnaire-based survey was conducted to empirically assess the developed model. The intended population for this survey was composed of teaching staff at a Saudi higher education institution characterized by a wide adoption of e-learning innovations during the pandemic. The 233 valid responses obtained from this population were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method. The results indicated that only two organizational readiness dimensions (i.e., teaching staff readiness and administrative support) and extrinsic motivation were significant positive drivers of the continuance intention to use e-learning innovations. According to these findings, the study emphasizes that the key e-learning stakeholders should develop effective policies and procedures that reinforce the roles of the examined dimensions in promoting such continuance intention, which represents a crucial indicator for the successful implementation of the adopted innovation.

Smart home technologies have revolutionized modern living by enhancing convenience, efficiency, and security. In contrast, many interconnected devices introduce significant security and privacy challenges. This comprehensive review investigates the integration of blockchain technology as a robust solution for secure access control in smart home environments. The decentralized and tamper-resistant nature of blockchain technology effectively solves important problems, including device authentication, data integrity, and access management, through the use of cryptography and distributed ledgers. The study synthesizes findings from 52 research papers, categorizing them into three thematic areas: blockchain in access control systems, its applications in IoT, and specific implementations for smart homes. It highlights the transformative potential of blockchain in mitigating vulnerabilities inherent in centralized systems, fostering trust, and enhancing security frameworks. Despite its promising applications, challenges such as scalability, interoperability, and energy consumption persist, warranting further research. This paper stresses the necessity of collaboration to tackle these limitations and enhance blockchain-based access control solutions for smart homes, setting the stage for more secure and user-focused smart environments.

Graphs have long been used to model relationships between entities. For some applications, a single graph is sufficient; for other problems, a collection of graphs may be more appropriate to represent the underlying data. Many contemporary problem domains, for which graphs are an ideal data model, contain an enormous amount of data (e.g., social networks). Hence, researchers frequently employ parallelized or distributed processing. The graph data must first be partitioned and assigned to the multiple processors in a way that the workload is balanced and inter-processor communication is minimized. The latter problem may be complicated by the existence of edges between vertices in a graph that have been assigned to different processors. Herein we introduce a strategy that combines vocabulary-based summarization of graphs (VoG) and detection of hotspots (i.e., vertices of high degree) to determine how a single undirected graph should be partitioned to optimize multi-processor load balancing and minimize the number of edges that exist between the partitioned subgraphs. We benchmark our method against another well-known partitioning algorithm (METIS) to demonstrate the benefits of our approach.

This paper aims to analyze the capability of advanced AI as a predictor of audit quality with particular reference to auditors in Kuwait. The research focuses on understanding the role of advanced AI technologies in the improvement of most audit activities around risk, fraud, and compliance. In order to classify the Kuwaiti auditors into different segments on the basis of their internet usage, both the quantitative data collected through a questionnaire survey is used with additional data collected from structured interviews with them. The results are expected to offer a rich and detailed account of the pragmatic opportunities and difficulties of applying AI in audits while highlighting its potential of reshaping conventional approaches. This study contributes relevant knowledge regarding the audit quality and governance garnered from linking theory and practice, providing the feasible recommendations for auditors and policymakers in the member countries of the GCC.

The use of technology in the financial industry has experienced sustained growth in recent years. However, in many emerging economies, a significant proportion of the population still does not utilize digital solutions for financial transactions. Promoting financial inclusion through digital environments is essential for driving social and economic development. This study aims to develop machine learning models to predict the adoption of digital payments in Latin America and the Caribbean using statistical data from the World Bank's Global Findex Database for 2021. The performance of the Random Forest, LightGBM, XGBoost, and CatBoost algorithms was compared, with the optimal hyperparameter combination identified through Bayesian optimization. The results show that LightGBM achieved the highest performance in predicting digital payments, with an F1-score of 90.25% and a more stable balance between precision and recall compared to the other models. These findings highlight the value of machine learning models in the financial sector, as they enable a more accurate identification of users adopting digital solutions, facilitating the design of strategies to strengthen financial inclusion in the region.

The main objective of spatiotemporal analysis is to offer precise predictions of outcomes. The objective of this study is to assess the accuracy of the Bayesian Latent Gaussian Model in predicting outcomes by utilizing both time-varying and fixed spatial weight matrices. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation suggest that when there is moderate spatial autocorrelation (between 0.3 and 0.7), it is strongly advised to use a time-varying spatial weight matrix. This approach yields the most precise predictions and minimizes any distortion in parameter estimates. Furthermore, we provide an illustrative case study where we simulate the effects of exposure to multiple pollutants on tuberculosis. The analysis revealed that particulate matter 10 (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3), have a positive influence on the risk of TB, with spatial effects that change over time. The model demonstrates that a rise of 1 mg/m³ in the levels of PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 is linked to corresponding increases in TB cases by 2.1%, 21.17%, 13.20%, 6.72%, and 6.59%, respectively. NO2 and SO2 have the most significant influence on the risk of tuberculosis (TB). These findings enhance our comprehension of the spatial correlation of TB over time and promote further investigation to determine the most efficacious strategies for mitigating the dissemination of TB.

One of the most crucial measures to maintain data security is the use of cryptography schemes and digital signatures built upon cryptographic algorithms. The resistance of cryptographic algorithms against conventional attacks is guaranteed by the computational difficulties and the immense amount of computation required to them. In the last decade, with the advances in quantum computing technology and the realization of quantum computers, which have higher computational power compared to conventional computers and can execute special kinds of algorithms (i.e., quantum algorithms), the security of many existing cryptographic algorithms has been questioned. The reason is that by using quantum computers and executing specific quantum algorithms through them, the computational difficulties of conventional cryptographic algorithms can be reduced, which makes it possible to overcome and break them in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, researchers began efforts to find new quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms that would be impossible to break, even using quantum computers, in a short time. Such algorithms are called post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of the challenges and vulnerabilities of different kinds of conventional cryptographic algorithms against quantum computers. Afterward, we review the latest cryptographic algorithms and standards that have been proposed to confront the threats posed by quantum computers. We present the classification of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and digital signatures based on their technical specifications, provide examples of each category, and outline the strengths and weaknesses of each category.

This paper investigates the impact and implementation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) on enhancing educational outcomes for engineering students at the Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú. The model emphasizes the role of ITS in improving academic achievement, student satisfaction, and engagement, considering critical dimensions like emotional attitude, cognitive receptivity, and reflective strategy. Using SmartPLS for data analysis and an application developed in Flutter, the study demonstrates that ITS can positively influence student emotion and performance. Reliability metrics confirm robustness, with Cronbach's alpha values between 0.76 and 0.876 and AVE scores above 0.7. Predictive power is supported by R-squared values of 0.746 for student emotion and 0.723 for ITS impact on academic performance. Path coefficients underscore significant relationships, such as ITS influence on emotional engagement (0.549) and academic satisfaction (0.384). Findings suggest that integrating ITS with emotional and cognitive dimensions can foster higher academic satisfaction and achievement.

In recent years, the adoption of advanced machine learning techniques has revolutionized approaches to solving complex problems, such as identifying occurrences of forest fires. Among these techniques, the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) combined with ensemble methods is particularly promising. To investigate the feasibility of detecting fires using video streams from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the lightweight CNN architecture MobileNetV2 was utilized for real-time detection. Several experiments were conducted on the DeepFire dataset, which comprises an equal number of images with and without fire, to evaluate MobileNetV2's performance. Notably, the architecture's linear bottlenecks and the efficient use of inverted residuals ensure high accuracy without compromising on feature extraction capabilities. For a comprehensive assessment, MobileNetV2 was benchmarked against other models, including DenseNet121, EfficientNetV2S, and VGG16. Accuracy was enhanced by averaging predictions through methods such as voting or summing results. As documented in the literature, MobileNetV2 consistently outperforms other architectures in computational efficiency and provides an excellent balance between efficiency and the quality of learned features over multiple epochs. This study underscores the suitability of MobileNetV2 for real-time applications on drones, particularly for the detection of forest fires in resource-constrained environments. The results show that MobileNetV2 achieves the highest accuracy (0.994), sensitivity (0.994), and specificity (0.998) among the tested models, with low standard deviations across all metrics. In contrast, EfficientNetV2S exhibited the lowest accuracy and sensitivity, both at 0.779, with a specificity of 0.829. The ensemble (Sum) method achieved an average accuracy of 0.989, sensitivity of 0.989, and specificity of approximately 0.988. Therefore, MobileNetV2 not only delivers the highest accuracy and stability but also demonstrates that the choice of ensemble method significantly affects the results.