Accurate forecasting of urban air pollution is essential for protecting public health and guiding mitigation policies. While Deep Learning (DL) and hybrid pipelines dominate recent research, their complexity and limited interpretability hinder operational use. This study investigates whether lightweight additive models -- Facebook Prophet (FBP) and NeuralProphet (NP) -- can deliver competitive forecasts for particulate matter (PM$_{2.5}$, PM$_{10}$) in Beijing, China. Using multi-year pollutant and meteorological data, we applied systematic feature selection (correlation, mutual information, mRMR), leakage-safe scaling, and chronological data splits. Both models were trained with pollutant and precursor regressors, with NP additionally leveraging lagged dependencies. For context, two machine learning baselines (LSTM, LightGBM) and one traditional statistical model (SARIMAX) were also implemented. Performance was evaluated on a 7-day holdout using MAE, RMSE, and $R^2$. Results show that FBP consistently outperformed NP, SARIMAX, and the learning-based baselines, achieving test $R^2$ above 0.94 for both pollutants. These findings demonstrate that interpretable additive models remain competitive with both traditional and complex approaches, offering a practical balance of accuracy, transparency, and ease of deployment.

LCAQ sensors have been shown to play a critical role in the establishment of dense, expansive air-quality monitoring networks and combating elevated pollution levels. The calibration of LCAQ sensors against regulatory-grade monitors is an expensive, laborious and time-consuming process, especially when a large number of sensors are to be deployed in a geographically diverse layout. In this work, we present the RESPIRE technique to calibrate LCAQ sensors to detect ambient CO (Carbon Monoxide) levels. RESPIRE offers specific advantages over baseline calibration methods popular in literature, such as improved prediction in cross-site, cross-season, and cross-sensor settings. RESPIRE offers a training algorithm that is provably resistant to outliers and an explainable model with the ability to flag instances of model overfitting. Empirical results are presented based on data collected during an extensive deployment spanning four sites, two seasons and six sensor packages.

We present a novel framework for real-time sign language recognition using lightweight DNNs trained on limited data. Our system addresses key challenges in sign language recognition, including data scarcity, high computational costs, and discrepancies in frame rates between training and inference environments. By encoding sign language specific parameters, such as handshape, palm orientation, movement, and location into vectorized inputs, and leveraging MediaPipe for landmark extraction, we achieve highly separable input data representations. Our DNN architecture, optimized for sub 10MB deployment, enables accurate classification of 343 signs with less than 10ms latency on edge devices. The data annotation platform 'slait data' facilitates structured labeling and vector extraction. Our model achieved 92% accuracy in isolated sign recognition and has been integrated into the 'slait ai' web application, where it demonstrates stable inference.

To be helpful assistants, AI agents must be aware of their own capabilities and limitations. This includes knowing when to answer from parametric knowledge versus using tools, when to trust tool outputs, and when to abstain or hedge. Such capabilities are hard to teach through supervised fine-tuning because they require constructing examples that reflect the agent's specific capabilities. We therefore propose a radically new approach to teaching agents what they know: \emph{collaborative self-play}. We construct multi-agent collaborations in which the group is rewarded for collectively arriving at correct answers. The desired meta-knowledge emerges from the incentives built into the structure of the interaction. We focus on small societies of agents that have access to heterogeneous tools (corpus-specific retrieval), and therefore must collaborate to maximize their success while minimizing their effort. Experiments show that group-level rewards for multi-agent communities can induce policies that \emph{transfer} to improve tool use and selective prediction in settings where individual agents are deployed in isolation.

Calculating percentage bone loss is a critical test for periodontal disease staging but is sometimes imprecise and time consuming when manually calculated. This study evaluates the application of a deep learning keypoint and object detection model, YOLOv8-pose, for the automatic identification of localised periodontal bone loss landmarks, conditions and staging. YOLOv8-pose was fine-tuned on 193 annotated periapical radiographs. We propose a keypoint detection metric, Percentage of Relative Correct Keypoints (PRCK), which normalises the metric to the average tooth size of teeth in the image. We propose a heuristic post-processing module that adjusts certain keypoint predictions to align with the edge of the related tooth, using a supporting instance segmentation model trained on an open source auxiliary dataset. The model can sufficiently detect bone loss keypoints, tooth boxes, and alveolar ridge resorption, but has insufficient performance at detecting detached periodontal ligament and furcation involvement. The model with post-processing demonstrated a PRCK 0.25 of 0.726 and PRCK 0.05 of 0.401 for keypoint detection, mAP 0.5 of 0.715 for tooth object detection, mesial dice score of 0.593 for periodontal staging, and dice score of 0.280 for furcation involvement. Our annotation methodology provides a stage agnostic approach to periodontal disease detection, by ensuring most keypoints are present for each tooth in the image, allowing small imbalanced datasets. Our PRCK metric allows accurate evaluation of keypoints in dental domains. Our post-processing module adjusts predicted keypoints correctly but is dependent on a minimum quality of prediction by the pose detection and segmentation models. Code: https:// anonymous.4open.science/r/Bone-Loss-Keypoint-Detection-Code. Dataset: https://bit.ly/4hJ3aE7.

Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis share many overlapping features such as clinical, radiological, endoscopic, and histological features - particularly granulomas, making it challenging to clinically differentiate them. Our research leverages 3D CTE scans, computer vision, and machine learning to improve this differentiation to avoid harmful treatment mismanagement such as unnecessary anti-tuberculosis therapy for Crohn's disease or exacerbation of tuberculosis with immunosuppressants. Our study proposes a novel method to identify radiologist - identified biomarkers such as VF to SF ratio, necrosis, calcifications, comb sign and pulmonary TB to enhance accuracy. We demonstrate the effectiveness by using different ML techniques on the features extracted from these biomarkers, computing SHAP on XGBoost for understanding feature importance towards predictions, and comparing against SOTA methods such as pretrained ResNet and CTFoundation.

The drastic changes in the global economy, geopolitical conditions, and disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the cost of living and quality of life. It is important to understand the long-term nature of the cost of living and quality of life in major economies. A transparent and comprehensive living index must include multiple dimensions of living conditions. In this study, we present an approach to quantifying the quality of life through the Global Ease of Living Index that combines various socio-economic and infrastructural factors into a single composite score. Our index utilises economic indicators that define living standards, which could help in targeted interventions to improve specific areas. We present a machine learning framework for addressing the problem of missing data for some of the economic indicators for specific countries. We then curate and update the data and use a dimensionality reduction approach (principal component analysis) to create the Ease of Living Index for major economies since 1970. Our work significantly adds to the literature by offering a practical tool for policymakers to identify areas needing improvement, such as healthcare systems, employment opportunities, and public safety. Our approach with open data and code can be easily reproduced and applied to various contexts. This transparency and accessibility make our work a valuable resource for ongoing research and policy development in quality-of-life assessment.

With the largest population of the world and one of the highest enrolments in higher education, India needs efficient and effective means to educate its learners. India started focusing on open and digital education in 1980's and its efforts were escalated in 2009 through the NMEICT program of the Government of India. A study by the Government and FICCI in 2014 noted that India cannot meet its educational needs just by capacity building in brick and mortar institutions. It was decided that ongoing MOOCs projects under the umbrella of NMEICT will be further strengthened over its second (2017-21) and third (2021-26) phases. NMEICT now steers NPTEL or SWAYAM (India's MOOCs) and several digital learning projects including Virtual Labs, e-Yantra, Spoken Tutorial, FOSSEE, and National Digital Library on India - the largest digital education library in the world. Further, India embraced its new National Education Policy in 2020 to strongly foster online education. In this chapter, we take a deep look into the evolution of MOOCs in India, its innovations, its current status and impact, and the roadmap for the next decade to address its challenges and grow. AI-powered MOOCs is an emerging opportunity for India to lead MOOCs worldwide.

The growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) in customer support has significantly improved operational efficiency and user experience. However, traditional machine learning (ML) approaches, which require extensive local training on sensitive datasets, pose substantial privacy risks and compliance challenges with regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Existing privacy-preserving techniques, such as anonymization, differential privacy, and federated learning, address some concerns but face limitations in utility, scalability, and complexity. This paper introduces the Privacy-Preserving Zero-Shot Learning (PP-ZSL) framework, a novel approach leveraging large language models (LLMs) in a zero-shot learning mode. Unlike conventional ML methods, PP-ZSL eliminates the need for local training on sensitive data by utilizing pre-trained LLMs to generate responses directly. The framework incorporates real-time data anonymization to redact or mask sensitive information, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for domain-specific query resolution, and robust post-processing to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. This combination reduces privacy risks, simplifies compliance, and enhances scalability and operational efficiency. Empirical analysis demonstrates that the PP-ZSL framework provides accurate, privacy-compliant responses while significantly lowering the costs and complexities of deploying AI-driven customer support systems. The study highlights potential applications across industries, including financial services, healthcare, e-commerce, legal support, telecommunications, and government services. By addressing the dual challenges of privacy and performance, this framework establishes a foundation for secure, efficient, and regulatory-compliant AI applications in customer interactions.

The growing demand for dynamic, user-centric data analysis and visualization is evident across domains like healthcare, finance, and research. Traditional visualization tools often fail to meet individual user needs due to their static and predefined nature. To address this gap, Text2Insight is introduced as an innovative solution that delivers customized data analysis and visualizations based on user-defined natural language requirements. Leveraging a multi-model architecture, Text2Insight transforms user inputs into actionable insights and dynamic visualizations. The methodology begins with analyzing the input dataset to extract structural details such as columns and values. A pre-trained Llama3 model converts the user's natural language query into an SQL query, which is further refined using a Named Entity Recognition (NER) model for accuracy. A chart predictor determines the most suitable visualization type, while the Llama3 model generates insights based on the SQL query's results. The output is a user-friendly and visually informative chart. To enhance analysis capabilities, the system integrates a question-answering model and a predictive model using the BERT framework. These models provide insights into historical data and predict future trends. Performance evaluation of Text2Insight demonstrates its effectiveness, achieving high accuracy (99%), precision (100%), recall (99%), and F1-score (99%), with a BLEU score of 0.5. The question-answering model attained an accuracy of 89% and the predictive model achieved 70% accuracy. These results validate Text2Insight as a robust and viable solution for transforming natural language text into dynamic, user-specific data analysis and visualizations.