Contributing authors: Jamal.Al-Karaki@zu.ac.ae; Abstract In this study, we formulate the drone delivery problem as a control problem and solve it using Model Predictive Control. Two experiments are performed: The first is on a less challenging grid world environment with lower dimensionality, and the second is with a higher dimensionality and added complexity. The MPC method was benchmarked against three popular Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL): Independent Q -Learning (IQL), Joint Action Learners (JAL), and Value-Decomposition Networks (VDN). It was shown that the MPC method solved the problem quicker and required fewer optimal numbers of drones to achieve a minimized cost and navigate the optimal path. Keywords: Model Predictive Control (MPC), Drone Delivery System, Applications of Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) 1 Introduction The rapid evolution of e-commerce and the increasing demand for faster, more efficient delivery systems have ushered in a new era in logistics and the shopping experience, which has huge effects on traditional brick-and-mortar shopping centers and malls that have globally reported a decrease in walk-in retail customers since the COVID-19 1 arXiv:2503.19699v1

In this study, we consider a real-world application of QML techniques to study water quality in the U20A region in Durban, South Africa. Specifically, we applied the quantum support vector classifier (QSVC) and quantum neural network (QNN), and we showed that the QSVC is easier to implement and yields a higher accuracy. The QSVC models were applied for three kernels: Linear, polynomial, and radial basis function (RBF), and it was shown that the polynomial and RBF kernels had exactly the same performance. The QNN model was applied using different optimizers, learning rates, noise on the circuit components, and weight initializations were considered, but the QNN persistently ran into the dead neuron problem. Thus, the QNN was compared only by accraucy and loss, and it was shown that with the Adam optimizer, the model has the best performance, however, still less than the QSVC.

Inspired by the success of Geographically Weighted Regression and its accounting for spatial variations, we propose GeogGNN -- A graph neural network model that accounts for geographical latitude and longitudinal points. Using a synthetically generated dataset, we apply the algorithm for a 4-class classification problem in cybersecurity with seemingly realistic geographic coordinates centered in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. We demonstrate that it has higher accuracy than standard neural networks and convolutional neural networks that treat the coordinates as features. Encouraged by the speed-up in model accuracy by the GeogGNN model, we provide a general mathematical result that demonstrates that a geometrically weighted neural network will, in principle, always display higher accuracy in the classification of spatially dependent data by making use of spatial continuity and local averaging features.

Coronary Heart Disease affects millions of people worldwide and is a well-studied area of healthcare. There are many viable and accurate methods for the diagnosis and prediction of heart disease, but they have limiting points such as invasiveness, late detection, or cost. Supervised learning via machine learning algorithms presents a low-cost (computationally speaking), non-invasive solution that can be a precursor for early diagnosis. In this study, we applied several well-known methods and benchmarked their performance against each other. It was found that Random Forest with oversampling of the predictor variable produced the highest accuracy of 84%.

In this study, we explore the innovative domain of Quantum Federated Learning (QFL) as a framework for training Quantum Machine Learning (QML) models via distributed networks. Conventional machine learning models frequently grapple with issues about data privacy and the exposure of sensitive information. Our proposed Federated Quantum Neural Network (FedQNN) framework emerges as a cutting-edge solution, integrating the singular characteristics of QML with the principles of classical federated learning. This work thoroughly investigates QFL, underscoring its capability to secure data handling in a distributed environment and facilitate cooperative learning without direct data sharing. Our research corroborates the concept through experiments across varied datasets, including genomics and healthcare, thereby validating the versatility and efficacy of our FedQNN framework. The results consistently exceed 86% accuracy across three distinct datasets, proving its suitability for conducting various QML tasks. Our research not only identifies the limitations of classical paradigms but also presents a novel framework to propel the field of QML into a new era of secure and collaborative innovation.

Financial fraud detection is essential for preventing significant financial losses and maintaining the reputation of financial institutions. However, conventional methods of detecting financial fraud have limited effectiveness, necessitating the need for new approaches to improve detection rates. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for detecting financial fraud using Quantum Graph Neural Networks (QGNNs). QGNNs are a type of neural network that can process graph-structured data and leverage the power of Quantum Computing (QC) to perform computations more efficiently than classical neural networks. Our approach uses Variational Quantum Circuits (VQC) to enhance the performance of the QGNN. In order to evaluate the efficiency of our proposed method, we compared the performance of QGNNs to Classical Graph Neural Networks using a real-world financial fraud detection dataset. The results of our experiments showed that QGNNs achieved an AUC of $0.85$, which outperformed classical GNNs. Our research highlights the potential of QGNNs and suggests that QGNNs are a promising new approach for improving financial fraud detection.

Quantum State Tomography (QST) is a fundamental technique in Quantum Information Processing (QIP) for reconstructing unknown quantum states. However, the conventional QST methods are limited by the number of measurements required, which makes them impractical for large-scale quantum systems. To overcome this challenge, we propose the integration of Quantum Machine Learning (QML) techniques to enhance the efficiency of QST. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive investigation into various approaches for QST, encompassing both classical and quantum methodologies; We also implement different QML approaches for QST and demonstrate their effectiveness on various simulated and experimental quantum systems, including multi-qubit networks. Our results show that our QML-based QST approach can achieve high fidelity (98%) with significantly fewer measurements than conventional methods, making it a promising tool for practical QIP applications.

In this research, a comparative study of four Quantum Machine Learning (QML) models was conducted for fraud detection in finance. We proved that the Quantum Support Vector Classifier model achieved the highest performance, with F1 scores of 0.98 for fraud and non-fraud classes. Other models like the Variational Quantum Classifier, Estimator Quantum Neural Network (QNN), and Sampler QNN demonstrate promising results, propelling the potential of QML classification for financial applications. While they exhibit certain limitations, the insights attained pave the way for future enhancements and optimisation strategies. However, challenges exist, including the need for more efficient quantum algorithms and larger and more complex datasets. The article provides solutions to overcome current limitations and contributes new insights to the field of Quantum Machine Learning in fraud detection, with important implications for its future development.

Quantum machine learning (QML) has witnessed immense progress recently, with quantum support vector machines (QSVMs) emerging as a promising model. This paper focuses on the two existing QSVM methods: quantum kernel SVM (QK-SVM) and quantum variational SVM (QV-SVM). While both have yielded impressive results, we present a novel approach that synergizes the strengths of QK-SVM and QV-SVM to enhance accuracy. Our proposed model, quantum variational kernel SVM (QVK-SVM), leverages the quantum kernel and quantum variational algorithm. We conducted extensive experiments on the Iris dataset and observed that QVK-SVM outperforms both existing models in terms of accuracy, loss, and confusion matrix indicators. Our results demonstrate that QVK-SVM holds tremendous potential as a reliable and transformative tool for QML applications. Hence, we recommend its adoption in future QML research endeavors.

DNA sequencing allows for the determination of the genetic code of an organism, and therefore is an indispensable tool that has applications in Medicine, Life Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, Food Sciences and Technology, and Agriculture. In this paper, we present several novel methods of performing classical-to-quantum data encoding inspired by various mathematical fields, and we demonstrate these ideas within Bioinformatics. In particular, we introduce algorithms that draw inspiration from diverse fields such as Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Information Theory, Differential Geometry, and Neural Network architectures. We provide a complete overview of the existing data encoding schemes and show how to use them in Genomics. The algorithms provided utilise lossless compression, wavelet-based encoding, and information entropy. Moreover, we propose a contemporary method for testing encoded DNA sequences using Quantum Boltzmann Machines. To evaluate the effectiveness of our algorithms, we discuss a potential dataset that serves as a sandbox environment for testing against real-world scenarios. Our research contributes to developing classical-to-quantum data encoding methods in the science of Bioinformatics by introducing innovative algorithms that utilise diverse fields and advanced techniques. Our findings offer insights into the potential of Quantum Computing in Bioinformatics and have implications for future research in this area.