NPS Australia Submission System
Explainable Fusion Model for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Risk Prediction

Abstract—Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is an emerging health issue across the world especially in less developed and middle-income nations like Bangladesh where early diagnosis is essential to avoid severe liver-related complications but the current screening procedures are invasive, costly, and not suitable to be applied at large scale. This paper proposes an interpretable machine learning-based model of NAFLD risk prediction on the basis of a custom real-world clinical dataset prepared from hospital records representative of the Bangladeshi population and a unified set of heterogeneous publicly available data. The combined dataset had a significant amount of missing data as a result of dissimilar feature presence that was filled in with low-rank matrix decomposition with the help of SoftImpute. SMOTE oversampling has been used to reduce the imbalance in the classes after the completion of the matrices. On the final balanced dataset, the Logistic Regression, Random Forest and XGBoost models were trained as well as a stacking ensemble model. Experimental findings confirm that Logistic Regression had a test accuracy of 97.99%, whereas Random Forest, XGBoost and the stacked ensemble had test accuracy of 99.28%, 99.31% and 99.40%. And the ensemble model provided the highest F1 score in both test and validation datasets. The SHAP-based explainability was added in order to offer both overall feature significance and patient-level clarifications.

Feature Fusion Model for Efficient Skin Cancer Classification

Abstract—Skin cancer ranks as the most prevalent cancer globally, occurring from generic reasons or ultraviolet radiation, which preliminary stage detection is necessary to reduce mortal- ity rates. Currently used diagnostic methods have limitations, including human error that can lead to misdiagnosis. Also, notable limitations are demonstrated in existing deep learning ap- proaches including classification accuracy, lack of generalization, and deployment challenges. An improved feature fusion model for binary skin cancer classification using VGG19 and MobileNet as the base model has been proposed. The methodology addresses the existing limitations in classification of dermoscopic images by achieving higher accuracy, increasing both true positive and true negative simultaneously, interpretability analysis for transparency, and deployment. The proposed method achieved a classification accuracy of 95.61%, outperforming both existing models and previously reported benchmarks. A user-friendly web application has been developed incorporating the fusion model, allowing interaction with the model and real time diagnosis of skin cancer.

Development of Smart Grid Distribution Systems in Emerging Economies: A Bangladesh Perspective

To meet the increasing demand of electricity and to make the power system smart, Bangladesh has to move from traditional grid to smart grid-based distribution system. The aim of this paper is to examine the meaning, the existing projects, the problems and the directions of the smart grid implementation in country. The study includes highlights on a few of the most important efforts including Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI),
distribution system modernization, renewable energy integration, and SCADA-based automation. However, legacy infrastructure, system losses, financial considerations, regulatory restrictions, and cybersecurity are still some of the challenges that remain in the way of large-scale deployment. This paper suggests a framework for a structured and phased implementation which focuses on infrastructure development, the development of ICT, policy reform, and investment strategies. Moreover, the use of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial
Intelligence (AI), and advanced data analytics is recognized as a key enabler for a power distribution system that is efficient, reliable, and sustainable. The results obtained from this research can be useful for policy makers, utilities and stakeholders to speed up the implementation of smart grid technologies and achieve sustainable energy for Bangladesh in the future.

ViT-Sign: An Explainable Vision Transformer for Sign Language Recognition

Over 70 million deaf people worldwide frequently use sign language. However, the challenges of real-time implementation and interpretation have limited automated sign language recognition systems. CNN-based older techniques frequently overlook subtle features that are crucial for differentiating between similar motions. This research examines the recognition of 37 distinct sign language classes, which include A to Z, 0 to 9, and a space. We utilized a dataset of 55,500 photos for this. Our recommended method, ViT-Sign, uses a Tiny version of Vision Transformer. It has only 5.5 million parameters, and we evaluate its performance using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. Our model achieves 99.42\% accuracy, 99.44\% precision, 99.42\% recall, and a 99.42\% F1-score. We also employ Grad-CAM visuals to make it clear that our model concentrates on the correct regions of the hands rather than random background information. Experiments show that Vision Transformers can efficiently record spatial relationships and acquire discriminative representations of gestures. The proposed method can be utilized to create successful communication systems that allow hearing-impaired people to communicate more easily.

Banana Leaf Disease Classification Using Explainable Deep Learning For Farmer-Oriented Advisory System

While banana is an important crop in the agricultural sector of South Asia, fungal and bacterial leaf diseases continue to cause substantial losses and pose a threat to the livelihoods of farmers in the region. The current method of field diagnosis is mostly manually, which is subjective and slow, inconvenient in the field. This paper proposes a rigorous and explainable deep learning framework for the automated banana leaf disease classification that overcomes three major drawbacks of previous works: 1) the lack of comparison of multiple models in similar experimental setups, 2) the lack of statistical validation, and 3) the absence of a connection between the model prediction and the farmer’s guidance. We test the three architectures: a lightweight Custom CNN, ResNet- 50 and EfficientNet-B0, on the publicly available BananaLSD dataset, based on a standardized preprocessing and augmentation pipeline. Stratified 5-fold cross validation is used for assessing the performance and paired t test is used to check the statistical significance of the difference observed. The best classification accuracy of EfficientNet-B0 is 99.69%, the mean cross-validation accuracy is 99.36%, and the standard deviation is the lowest (0.10), showing very high stability. For transparency, we integrate four explainability methods: Grad-CAM, Grad-CAM++, Score- CAM and Layer-CAM, which result in uniform lesion localized heatmaps that validate biologically meaningful feature focus. Finally, an intelligent advisory module translates the predictions in actionable management recommendations directly deployable by agricultural extension services. The proposed framework is built upon predictive excellence, interpretable decision making, and real-world usability in one seamless pipeline, which is critical for advancing precision agriculture.

Digital Financial Inclusion for Resilient Digital Ecosystems in Fiji and the Pacific Islands

The research contributes by systematically identifying and synthesising the dual role of emerging technologies, specifically human -centric artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralised digital digital systems, in shaping financial inclusion outcomes. It demonstrates how these technologies simultaneously act as enablers of access and efficiency, while also introducing new barriers related to digital literacy, transparency and trust.

A Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm-Based Approach for Explainable Healthcare Fraud Detection

• A MOGA-based framework is proposed for healthcare
fraud detection, which simultaneously optimizes classifi
cation performance and feature subset size.
• The framework integrates LIME to enable instance-level
interpretability, facilitating a deeper understanding of
model predictions.
• A comprehensive comparative analysis is conducted to
evaluate model performance and interpretability before
and after feature selection.

Agentic AI: A Comprehensive Survey of Technologies, Applications, and Societal Implications

gentic AI represents an advanced stage of artificial intelligence capable of goal-driven behavior, adaptation, and self-improvement. It reviews what makes agentic AI different from traditional AI and explains how abilities like autonomy, memory, and reasoning support more general capabilities. Instead of proposing a new system, the paper provides a conceptual view of how current frameworks are evolving toward agentic AI.

Multi-Criteria Decision-Support System for Sustainable Management of the Aral Sea Basin under Uncertainty

— The Aral Sea Desiccated Basin faces one of Central Asia’s most severe ecological and socio-economic crises, driven by decades of unsustainable water use and climate change. Developing sustainable management strategies for this region remains complex due to uncertain, incomplete, and often conflicting environmental data. This study presents a hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Support System (MCDSS) that integrates Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS) with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques to address uncertainty and hesitation in environmental decisions. By incorporating membership, non-membership, and hesitation degrees, the proposed model enables a more realistic evaluation of management alternatives compared to traditional deterministic or fuzzy methods. To further enhance analytical capacity, a Large Multimodal Model (LMM) is introduced to process and fuse satellite imagery, numerical indicators, and expert textual inputs. The LMM supports cross-modal reasoning and improves the interpretation of soil salinity, vegetation degradation, and water resource distribution. A case study on water allocation and land rehabilitation in the Aral Sea Basin demonstrates that the LMM-enhanced IFS–MCDM framework improves decision robustness, adaptability, and transparency. The results suggest that the proposed system can effectively support data-driven, sustainable management strategies for ecologically vulnerable regions under uncertainty.

AI Driven Personalised Learning for Sustainable Higher Education in the Pacific

Personalised learning (PL) is increasingly promoted
as a strategy to enhance engagement and achievement in higher
education. Advances in adaptive systems, artificial intelligence, and
learning analytics enable tailored pathways and real-time feedback.
Meta-analyses report medium-to-large effects for intelligent
tutoring systems (ITS, g ≈ 0.6–0.7) and moderate gains for selfregulated
learning (SRL) interventions (d ≈ 0.69), while adaptive
platforms typically yield small-to-moderate improvements. Largescale
implementations, however, often produce only modest results
with considerable variance across contexts. This paper presents
a PRISMA-guided scoping review (2012–2025, n = 92 studies)
synthesising global evidence on PL modalities and applying
insights to Pacific higher education, where challenges of access,
equity, and cultural fit are acute. The contribution is twofold: first,
it explicitly links global effect-size evidence to equity outcomes
in low-resource contexts; second, it proposes an offline-first,
edge-based AI architecture tailored to Pacific higher education
to mitigate connectivity, privacy, and sustainability barriers.
The paper concludes with a context-sensitive research agenda
emphasising hybrid models, equity-first design, and governance
frameworks for sustainable implementation.