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Review Paper

Hybrid Machine Learning and Deep Learning Approaches for Network Traffic Anomaly Detection: A Literature Review

Network traffic produces large volumes of data every second, and traditional security tools often struggle to detect new or unknown attacks hidden within this traffic. Anomaly-based intrusion detection systems address this problem by learning normal network behavior and identifying suspicious deviations. This literature review examines recent studies that use machine learning, deep learning, and hybrid machine learning-deep learning approaches for network traffic anomaly detection. The review focuses on feature selection, model complexity, dataset use, evaluation metrics, and the practical challenges that still limit real-world deployment. The reviewed studies show that traditional machine learning models can remain efficient when supported by careful feature selection, while deep learning models are useful for learning more complex spatial and temporal traffic patterns. Hybrid approaches often report stronger performance because they combine the speed and simplicity of machine learning with the representational power of deep learning. However, the literature also shows continuing weaknesses, including reliance on static benchmark datasets, class imbalance, computational cost, limited explainability, and uncertainty about performance in live networks. The review concludes that hybrid approaches are promising, but their future value depends on making them lighter, more explainable, and more reliable outside controlled experimental settings.

Published by: Abdulhaq Nabizoi

Author: Abdulhaq Nabizoi

Paper ID: V12I3-1174

Paper Status: published

Published: May 26, 2026

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Review Paper

A Review of Explainable Federated Learning Frameworks for Chest X-ray Diagnosis under Heterogeneous Hospital Data

The application of deep learning in chest X-ray diagnosis has demonstrated promising results in detecting multiple thoracic diseases. However, traditional centralized approaches face significant challenges, including limited generalization across hospitals with heterogeneous patient populations and imaging protocols, compounded by strict privacy regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that prevent data sharing between institutions. Although centralized deep learning approaches perform well and achieve high local accuracy on their predictions, they are often “black boxes,” which limits clinical trust and interpretability. This review examines existing explainable federated learning frameworks for chest X-ray diagnosis under heterogeneous data conditions. Current approaches enable decentralized training across non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID) hospital environments, utilizing robust aggregation strategies such as Federated Averaging (FedAvg) and Federated Proximal (FedProx) to address label, quantity, and feature skew. To establish clinical trust, explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques, such as Gradient weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad CAM) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), have been incorporated to generate interpretable visual explanations. The reviewed frameworks are evaluated on classification performance, robustness under heterogeneity, and stability of generated explanations. However, this review reveals significant gaps: the types of heterogeneity are addressed in isolation, XAI evaluation remains largely qualitative, and explanation stability under non-IID conditions lacks rigorous validation. These findings collectively highlight the need for federated frameworks that unify heterogeneity handling across all its forms simultaneously rather than addressing each in isolation, quantitative XAI assessment, and validation of explanation consistency across diverse hospital environments to enable trustworthy and interpretable clinical deployment.

Published by: Muhammad Auwal Yusuf

Author: Muhammad Auwal Yusuf

Paper ID: V12I3-1172

Paper Status: published

Published: May 26, 2026

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Review Paper

Edge-Optimized Pre-Trained Deep Learning Models for Real-Time Detection of Red Palm Weevil and Date Palm Diseases: A Review

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) constitutes one of the most economically and culturally significant crops across arid and semi-arid regions, yet its productivity faces existential threats from the Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, RPW) and a spectrum of fungal and bacterial diseases. While deep learning has demonstrated remarkable classification accuracies exceeding 97% in controlled laboratory environments, the transition from academic prototypes to deployable, real-time agricultural solutions remains critically underdeveloped. This comprehensive review systematically examines recent studies, synthesizing the current landscape of deep learning applications for RPW detection and date palm disease classification. Our analysis reveals a persistent disconnect between architectural sophistication and practical deployability. Furthermore, the literature exhibits a pronounced fragmentation between pest detection and disease classification, with few studies addressing the integrated palm health ecosystem. This review identifies critical research dimensions where the current state-of-the-art falls short. By mapping these interconnected gaps across the evaluated literature, this review establishes a structured roadmap for developing lightweight, accurate, and interpretable AI systems that bridge the gap between theoretical accuracy and operational feasibility in precision agriculture.

Published by: Umar Faruk Ibrahim

Author: Umar Faruk Ibrahim

Paper ID: V12I3-1170

Paper Status: published

Published: May 26, 2026

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Research Paper

Robust Deep Residual Networks with Pixel-Level Pre-Processing for Decentralized Traffic Sign Recognition

While traffic sign recognition systems play a vital role in road safety and autonomous driving, traditional architectures often suffer severe accuracy degradation under adverse environmental conditions such as low light, fog, and heavy shadows. Although federated deep learning and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have successfully advanced decentralized edge intelligence, standard RGB image processing remains a critical bottleneck for vehicles encountering environmental noise. To address this, we propose a lightweight, decentralized ResNet-34 architecture designed for embedded applications, enhanced by a robust multi-space pixel-level pre-processing pipeline. By incorporating localized edge contrast enhancement and chromatic variance stabilization (utilizing HSV and Ohta spaces), the proposed system isolates critical luminance and structural features prior to decentralized feature extraction. The framework was trained and evaluated on the German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) and the Belgian Traffic Sign Data Set (BTSD). The results demonstrate that coupling dynamic image pre-processing with federated residual learning yields a highly efficient, accurate, and environmentally resilient system suitable for real-time edge deployment.

Published by: Yenugurosireddygari Hemalatha, Sudhakar Bathala

Author: Yenugurosireddygari Hemalatha

Paper ID: V12I3-1194

Paper Status: published

Published: May 25, 2026

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Review Paper

Transformer-Based Object Detection Architectures for Autonomous Driving Perception: A Comprehensive Review

Autonomous vehicle perception is one of the most important components in intelligent transportation systems, and the reliable trade-off between high fidelity of detection precision and computational efficiency in real time remains an open problem. Deep learning has proven to be very accurate in controlled settings, but bringing CNN-based solutions to deployment with high latency and substantial memory overhead is often a challenge to the end-to-end deployed Transformer solution. This thorough review provides a systematic analysis of recent developments in transformer-based detection architectures, consolidating 2024–2026 transformer- and CNN-based architectures for detection. It is a thorough review that systematically analyzes recent transformer-based detection architectures, summarizing the current transformer- and CNN-based detection architectures from 2024 to 2026. From our analysis, we can see that there is a clear lack of theoretical sophistication and the real-life edge-deployability of the hardware. In addition, there is a clear disconnection between the 2D camera-based detection approach and the 3D multimodal fusion approach in the literature. The critical research dimensions that are not well met by the current state-of-the-art are identified in this review, including small object detection in dense urban environments and robust inference under challenging weather conditions. This review provides a structured path forward by mapping these interrelated gaps and paving the way for the creation of lightweight, accurate and robust transformer detectors that can be deployed on their own in the field.

Published by: Muhammad Hamza

Author: Muhammad Hamza

Paper ID: V12I3-1176

Paper Status: published

Published: May 25, 2026

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Research Paper

Do ESG Rating Divergences Predict Stock Underperformance?

While the ESG investing trend has shifted to the forefront, a rather worrying paradox is also becoming ever more evident, that of the dramatically divergent ESG evaluations rendered for the identical companies, consistently and by rating agencies across the industry. This paper investigates whether that difference of opinion, particularly when combined with unambiguous and highly optimistic environmental rhetoric in corporate filings, might be used as a quantifiable indicator of greenwashing, and if companies with that pattern of behaviour tend subsequently to underperform in equity markets. I employ a sample of 135 international firms from the S&P 500 and MSCI world indices, 2015-2023, providing a dataset of 1,080 firm-year observations. I calculated an aggregated ESG divergence index using pairwise disagreements from MSCI, Sustainalytics, and Bloomberg ESG ratings, and combined it with two text-based indicators from annual reports: a FinBERT sustainability sentiment index and a TF-IDF-based ESG keyword intensity measure for inclusion in my analysis. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions, two-way fixed effects panel models, and Fama-MacBeth cross-section estimation are used to carry out the empirical investigation. I find, throughout all specifications, that ESG rating divergence is negatively and significantly associated with risk-adjusted returns; each unit of added divergence relates to an annual excess return that is approximately 0.39–0.42% lower (p<0.01). Positive sustainability sentiment in disclosures correlates with better performance, whereas high keyword density unaccompanied by external rating agreement points in the opposite direction, consistent with rhetorical inflation rather than genuine ESG progress. A long-short portfolio sorted on divergence quintiles accumulates approximately 8.7 percentage points of excess return over the nine-year window. The results speak directly to the concerns of asset managers, index providers, and regulators engaged in the ongoing effort to bring rigour to sustainable finance.

Published by: Sheena Syed

Author: Sheena Syed

Paper ID: V12I3-1169

Paper Status: published

Published: May 22, 2026

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