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Abstract Vehicle identification systems are vital components that enable many aspects of contemporary life, such as safety, trade, transit, and law enforcement. They improve community and individual well-being by increasing vehicle management, security, and transparency. These tasks entail locating and extracting license plates from images or video frames using computer vision and machine learning techniques, followed by recognizing the letters or digits on the plates. This paper proposes a new license plate detection and recognition method based on the deep learning YOLO v8 method, image processing techniques, and the OCR technique for text recognition. For this, the first step was the dataset creation, when gathering 270 images from the internet. Afterward, CVAT (Computer Vision Annotation Tool) was used to annotate the dataset, which is an open-source software platform made to make computer vision tasks easier to annotate and label images and videos. Subsequently, the newly released Yolo version, the Yolo v8, has been employed to detect the number plate area in the input image. Subsequently, after extracting the plate the k-means clustering algorithm, the thresholding techniques, and the opening morphological operation were used to enhance the image and make the characters in the license plate clearer before using OCR. The next step in this process is using the OCR technique to extract the characters. Eventually, a text file containing only the character reflecting the vehicle's country is generated. To ameliorate the efficiency of the proposed approach, several metrics were employed, namely precision, recall, F1-Score, and CLA. In addition, a comparison of the proposed method with existing techniques in the literature has been given. The suggested method obtained convincing results in both detection as well as recognition by obtaining an accuracy of 99% in detection and 98% in character recognition.

The emergence of Industry 5.0 has revolutionized technology by integrating physical systems with digital networks. These advancements have also led to an increase in cyber threats, posing significant risks, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This research investigates the resistance of SMEs in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (UK) to cyber security measures within the context of Industry 5.0, with a specific focus on governance and policy. It explores the cultural and economic factors contributing to this resistance, such as limited awareness of cyber security risks, financial constraints, and competing business priorities. Additionally, the study examines the role of government policies and regulations in promoting cyber security practices among SMEs and compares the approaches adopted by Saudi Arabia and the UK. By employing a mixed methods analysis, including interviews with SME owners and experts, the research highlights challenges and opportunities for improving cyber security governance and policy in both countries. The findings emphasize the need for tailored solutions due to the differing cultural and economic contexts between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Specifically, the study delves into the awareness and implementation of cyber security measures, focusing on SMEs in Saudi Arabia and their adherence to the Essential Cyber Security Controls (ECC-1:2018) guidelines. Furthermore, it examines the existing cyber security awareness practices and compliance in the UK, while also comparing official guidance documents aimed at supporting SMEs in achieving better cyber security practices. Based on the analysis, greater engagement with these documents is recommended in both countries to foster awareness, confidence, and compliance among SMEs, ultimately enhancing their cyber security posture. This paper offers a comparative research study on governance and policy between Saudi Arabia and the UK, presenting a set of recommendations to strengthen cyber security awareness and education, fortify regulatory frameworks, and foster public–private partnerships to combat cyber security threats in the Industry 5.0 landscape.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have adapted their working methods in response to cyber threats, including security checks on internet-connected devices and securing social media accounts. To safeguard their data, SMEs are increasingly adopting intelligent software packages, despite the additional costs and need for skilled personnel. This study examines the perspectives of SMEs in Wales regarding their collaboration with the government to overcome cybersecurity challenges. Through qualitative research involving 34 SMEs, the study explores current cybersecurity practices, challenges faced, and interactions with government agencies. Wales, with its thriving economy and significant number of SMEs, provides a suitable context for the research. The findings will shed light on barriers and challenges encountered by SMEs in implementing effective cybersecurity measures, while also examining their perceptions of government agency involvement. By contributing insights to SME cybersecurity and government policy, the study aims to enhance government initiatives in supporting SMEs to tackle cybersecurity challenges effectively.

Technology has become an integral part of our educational systems, and its importance in our schools cannot be overstated. However, digital skills, unlike other literacy skills, such as reading, writing, and numeracy, still have many discontinuities between how children use them at home versus in school. Therefore, in Wales (UK), digital skills are being promoted as part of the Digital Competence Framework (DCF) and feature highly in the new Curriculum for Wales (2022). Moreover, the new Digital Technology General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in Wales has been introduced to provide learners with the opportunity to gain a qualification that builds digital skills, knowledge, and understanding. However, this also brings many challenges for teachers, such as a lack of confidence, knowledge, and training, as well as a lack of resources and fear of change, to name a few. These challenges, in turn, have an impact on pupils’ motivation and performance, as well as parents’ ability to support their children. This paper presents a qualitative case study on the development of a new digital technology learning community for primary and secondary school pupils, their teachers, and parents in Blaenau Gwent, Wales (UK). Firstly, the paper will provide insight into what was required to establish an effective learning community, including ensuring engagement and buy-in from all stakeholders. Secondly, through the description, analysis, and interpretation of findings from two studies, the paper will highlight the impact of the DTLSN learning community on teachers and pupils in Blaenau Gwent, especially in terms of their learning and teaching.

Implementing 5G-enabled Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) intelligent transportation systems presents a promising opportunity to enhance road safety and traffic flow while facilitating the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) based solutions. Yet, security and privacy concerns pose significant challenges that must be addressed. Therefore, researchers have focused on improving the security and integrity of vehicle data sharing, with a particular emphasis on V2X application layer security and privacy requirements. This is crucial given that V2X networks can consist of vehicles manufactured by different companies and registered in various jurisdictions, which may only be within communication range for a few seconds. Thus, it is necessary to establish a trusting relationship between vehicles quickly. The article proposes a threshold cryptography-based key exchange protocol that meets the key requirements for V2X data sharing and privacy, including the rapid establishment of trust, the maintenance of vehicle anonymity, and the provision of secure messages. To evaluate the feasibility and performance of the proposed protocol, a tailored testbed that leverages the NS-3 network simulator, a commercial 5G network, and public cloud infrastructure is used. Overall, the proposed protocol provides a potential solution for addressing security and privacy concerns in V2X networks, which is essential for successfully implementing and adopting this technology.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that deals with the simulation of human intelligence using machines so that such machines gain problem-solving and decision-making capabilities similar to that of the human brain. Neuroscience is the scientific study of the struczture and cognitive functions of the brain. Neuroscience and AI are mutually interrelated. These two fields help each other in their advancements. The theory of neuroscience has brought many distinct improvisations into the AI field. The biological neural network has led to the realization of complex deep neural network architectures that are used to develop versatile applications, such as text processing, speech recognition, object detection, etc. Additionally, neuroscience helps to validate the existing AI-based models. Reinforcement learning in humans and animals has inspired computer scientists to develop algorithms for reinforcement learning in artificial systems, which enables those systems to learn complex strategies without explicit instruction. Such learning helps in building complex applications, like robot-based surgery, autonomous vehicles, gaming applications, etc. In turn, with its ability to intelligently analyze complex data and extract hidden patterns, AI fits as a perfect choice for analyzing neuroscience data that are very complex. Large-scale AI-based simulations help neuroscientists test their hypotheses. Through an interface with the brain, an AI-based system can extract the brain signals and commands that are generated according to the signals. These commands are fed into devices, such as a robotic arm, which helps in the movement of paralyzed muscles or other human parts. AI has several use cases in analyzing neuroimaging data and reducing the workload of radiologists. The study of neuroscience helps in the early detection and diagnosis of neurological disorders. In the same way, AI can effectively be applied to the prediction and detection of neurological disorders. Thus, in this paper, a scoping review has been carried out on the mutual relationship between AI and neuroscience, emphasizing the convergence between AI and neuroscience in order to detect and predict various neurological disorders.

The growing dependency on digital technologies is becoming a way of life, and at the same time, the collection of data using them for surveillance operations has raised concerns. Notably, some countries use digital surveillance technologies for tracking and monitoring individuals and populations to prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus. The technology has the capacity to contribute towards tackling the pandemic effectively, but the success also comes at the expense of privacy rights. The crucial point to make is regardless of who uses and which mechanism, in one way another will infringe personal privacy. Therefore, when considering the use of technologies to combat the pandemic, the focus should also be on the impact of facial recognition cameras, police surveillance drones, and other digital surveillance devices on the privacy rights of those under surveillance. The GDPR was established to ensure that information could be shared without causing any infringement on personal data and businesses; therefore, in generating Big Data, it is important to ensure that the information is securely collected, processed, transmitted, stored, and accessed in accordance with established rules. This paper focuses on Big Data challenges associated with surveillance methods used within the COVID-19 parameters. The aim of this research is to propose practical solutions to Big Data challenges associated with COVID-19 pandemic surveillance approaches. To that end, the researcher will identify the surveillance measures being used by countries in different regions, the sensitivity of generated data, and the issues associated with the collection of large volumes of data and finally propose feasible solutions to protect the privacy rights of the people, during the post-COVID-19 era.

Artificial Intelligence (Al) models are being produced and used to solve a variety of current and future business and technical problems. Therefore, AI model engineering processes, platforms, and products are acquiring special significance across industry verticals. For achieving deeper automation, the number of data features being used while generating highly promising and productive AI models is numerous, and hence the resulting AI models are bulky. Such heavyweight models consume a lot of computation, storage, networking, and energy resources. On the other side, increasingly, AI models are being deployed in IoT devices to ensure real-time knowledge discovery and dissemination. Real-time insights are of paramount importance in producing and releasing real-time and intelligent services and applications. Thus, edge intelligence through on-device data processing has laid down a stimulating foundation for real-time intelligent enterprises and environments. With these emerging requirements, the focus turned towards unearthing competent and cognitive techniques for maximally compressing huge AI models without sacrificing AI model performance. Therefore, AI researchers have come up with a number of powerful optimization techniques and tools to optimize AI models. This paper is to dig deep and describe all kinds of model optimization at different levels and layers. Having learned the optimization methods, this work has highlighted the importance of having an enabling AI model optimization framework.

Unreliable networks often use excess bandwidth for data integration in smart cities. For this purpose, Messaging Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) with a certain quality of service (QoS) is employed. Data integrity and data security are frequently compromised for reducing bandwidth usage while designing integrated applications. Thus, for a reliable and secure integrated Internet of Everything (IoE) service, a range of network parameters are conditioned to achieve the required quality of a deliverable service. In this work, a QoS-0-based MQTT is developed in such a manner that the transparent MQTT protocol uses Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based connectivity with various rules for the retransmission of contents if the requests are not entertained for a fixed duration. The work explores the ways to improve the overall content delivery probability. The parameters are examined over a transparent gateway-based TCP network after developing a mathematical model for the proposed retransmission-based mutant QoS-0. The probability model is then verified by an actual physical network where the repeated content delivery is explored at VM-based MQTT, local network-based broker and a remote server. The results show that the repeated transmission of contents from the sender improves the content delivery probability over the unreliable MQTT-based Internet of Things (IoT) for developing smart cities’ applications.

In-vehicle communication has become an integral part of today’s driving environment considering the growing add-ons of sensor-centric communication and computing devices inside a vehicle for a range of purposes including vehicle monitoring, physical wiring reduction, and driving efficiency. However, related literature on cyber security for in-vehicle communication systems is still lacking potential dedicated solutions for in-vehicle cyber risks. Existing solutions are mainly relying on protocol-specific security techniques and lacking an overall security framework for in-vehicle communication. In this context, this paper critically explores the literature on cyber security for in-vehicle communication focusing on technical architecture, methodologies, challenges, and possible solutions. In-vehicle communication network architecture is presented considering key components, interfaces, and related technologies. The protocols for in-vehicle communication have been classified based on their characteristics, and usage type. Security solutions for in-vehicle communication have been critically reviewed considering machine learning, cryptography, and port-centric techniques. A multi-layer secure framework is also developed as a protocol and use case-independent in-vehicle communication solution. Finally, open challenges and future dimensions of research for in-vehicle communication cyber security are highlighted as observations and recommendations.

With the significant growth of internet usage, people increasingly share their personal information online. As a result, an enormous amount of personal information and financial transactions become vulnerable to cybercriminals. Phishing is an example of a highly effective form of cybercrime that enables criminals to deceive users and steal important data. Since the first reported phishing attack in 1990, it has been evolved into a more sophisticated attack vector. At present, phishing is considered one of the most frequent examples of fraud activity on the Internet. Phishing attacks can lead to severe losses for their victims including sensitive information, identity theft, companies, and government secrets. This article aims to evaluate these attacks by identifying the current state of phishing and reviewing existing phishing techniques. Studies have classified phishing attacks according to fundamental phishing mechanisms and countermeasures discarding the importance of the end-to-end lifecycle of phishing. This article proposes a new detailed anatomy of phishing which involves attack phases, attacker’s types, vulnerabilities, threats, targets, attack mediums, and attacking techniques. Moreover, the proposed anatomy will help readers understand the process lifecycle of a phishing attack which in turn will increase the awareness of these phishing attacks and the techniques being used; also, it helps in developing a holistic anti-phishing system. Furthermore, some precautionary countermeasures are investigated, and new strategies are suggested.

Trust in corporations, governments and public services has been steadily declining over the last few decades. Lack of transparency and auditability has been a key driver for this decline. Blockchain technology has been commended as a solution that can help with disintermediation and filling the consistently increasing trust challenges faced by corporate and public sector. Public services are seeking solutions that can help establish trust and increase transparency with its citizens and businesses are undertaking extensive business analysis to determine the need and effectiveness of blockchain like platforms as the basis for transforming their existing platforms. Due to the decisive nature, most of the analysis results thus indicate that if a trusted third party is an option, then blockchain should not be used. Here we highlight the challenges and opportunities of establishing trust and how blockchain technology can help public services bridge the trust gap with its citizens. We argue that all information technology systems rely on a suite of technologies, thus blockchain should be added to the current technology stack rather than taking an “all or nothing” approach. We also argue that analysing the effectiveness of futuristic technology like blockchain with industrial age methodology and mind set may limit the realisation of its impact on society and economy. Therefore, we propose to take a heuristic approach where different properties of blockchain technology needs to be mapped against different aspects of current business process with a futuristic view in mind. Taking Companies House – a government organisation that holds over four million UK based companies records as an example, we demonstrate how certain business processes in Companies House can benefit from adapting a blockchain based solution.

Transgender community face serious socio-economic predicaments due to the discrepancy between their current gender expression and assigned gender identity at birth. Even though, a considerable amount work have been done to protect their basic human rights such as security, equality and social acceptance; trans people are still large victims of hate related crimes. With GDPR and other data protection laws and policies in place, now it is ever more important to protect the confidentiality of gender change information as well as to establish technical solutions that can prevent from inferring any sense of gender change from historical data. In this context, distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain present great opportunities for information integrity, security, privacy and access. However, at the same time provenance information extracted from immutable blockchain can be exploited to infer gender change. Addressing this paradox here we propose recommendations for managing gender change information in the blockchain environment in context of present sociopolitical, legislative and technical challenges associated with gender change.

Cyber security has made an impact and has challenged Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in their approaches towards how they protect and secure data. With an increase in more wired and wireless connections and devices on SME networks, unpredictable malicious activities and interruptions have risen. Finding the harmony between the advancement of technology and costs has always been a balancing act particularly in convincing the finance directors of these SMEs to invest in capital towards their IT infrastructure. This paper looks at various devices that currently are in the market to detect intrusions and look at how these devices handle prevention strategies for SMEs in their working environment both at home and in the office, in terms of their credibility in handling zero-day attacks against the costs of achieving so. The experiment was set up during the 2020 pandemic referred to as COVID-19 when the world experienced an unprecedented event of large scale. The operational working environment of SMEs reflected the context when the UK went into lockdown. Pre-pandemic would have seen this experiment take full control within an operational office environment; however, COVID-19 times has pushed us into a corner to evaluate every aspect of cybersecurity from the office and keeping the data safe within the home environment. The devices chosen for this experiment were OpenSource such as SNORT and pfSense to detect activities within the home environment, and Cisco, a commercial device, set up within an SME network. All three devices operated in a live environment within the SME network structure with employees being both at home and in the office. All three devices were observed from the rules they displayed, their costs and machine learning techniques integrated within them. The results revealed these aspects to be important in how they identified zero-day attacks. The findings showed that OpenSource devices whilst free to download, required a high level of expertise in personnel to implement and embed machine learning rules into the business solution even for staff working from home. However, when using Cisco, the price reflected the buy-in into this expertise and Cisco’s mainframe network, to give up-to-date information on cyber-attacks. The requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulations Act (GDPR) were also acknowledged as part of the broader framework of the study. Machine learning techniques such as anomaly-based intrusions did show better detection through a commercially subscription-based model for support from Cisco compared to that of the OpenSource model which required internal expertise in machine learning. A cost model was used to compare the outcome of SMEs’ decision making, in getting the right framework in place in securing their data. In conclusion, finding a balance between IT expertise and costs of products that are able to help SMEs protect and secure their data will benefit the SMEs from using a more intelligent controlled environment with applied machine learning techniques, and not compromising on costs.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a much-needed sanity check for IoT-inspired frameworks and solutions. IoT solutions such as remote health monitoring and contact tracing provided support for authorities to successfully manage the spread of the coronavirus. This article provides the first comprehensive review of key IoT solutions that have had an impact on COVID-19 in healthcare, contact tracing, and transportation during the pandemic. Each sector is investigated in depth; and potential applications, social and economic impact, and barriers for mass adaptation are discussed in detail. Furthermore, it elaborates on the challenges and opportunities for IoT framework solutions in the immediate post-COVID-19 era. To this end, privacy and security concerns of IoT applications are analyzed in depth and emerging standards and code of practices for mass adaptation are also discussed. The main contribution of this review paper is the in-depth analysis and categorization of sector-wise IoT technologies, which have the potential to be prominent applications in the new normal. IoT applications in each selected sector are rated for their potential economic and social impact, timeline for mass adaptation, and Technology Readiness Level (TRL). In addition, this article outlines potential research directions for next-generation IoT applications that would facilitate improved performance with preserved privacy and security, as well as wider adaptation by the population at large.

Video playback on mobile consumer electronic (CE) devices is plagued by fluctuations in the network bandwidth and by limitations in processing and energy availability at the individual devices. Seen as a potential solution, the state-of-the-art adaptive streaming mechanisms address the first aspect, yet the efficient control of the decoding-complexity and the energy use when decoding the video remain unaddressed. The quality of experience (QoE) of the end-users’ experiences, however, depends on the capability to adapt the bit streams to both these constraints (i.e., network bandwidth and device’s energy availability). As a solution, this paper proposes an encoding framework that is capable of generating video bit streams with arbitrary bit rates and decoding-complexity levels using a decoding-complexity–rate–distortion model. The proposed algorithm allocates rate and decoding-complexity levels across frames and coding tree units (CTUs) and adaptively derives the CTU-level coding parameters to achieve their imposed targets with minimal distortion. The experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm can achieve the target bit rate and the decoding-complexity with 0.4% and 1.78% average errors, respectively, for multiple bit rate and decoding-complexity levels. The proposed algorithm also demonstrates a stable frame-wise rate and decoding-complexity control capability when achieving a decoding-complexity reduction of 10.11 (%/dB). The resultant decoding-complexity reduction translates into an overall energy-consumption reduction of up to 10.52 (%/dB) for a 1 dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) quality loss compared to the HM 16.0 encoded bit streams.

Quality of Experience (QoE) is becoming an important factor of User-Centred Design (UCD). The deployment of pure technical measures such as Quality of Service (QoS) parameters to assess the quality of multimedia applications is phasing out due to the failure of those methods to quantify true user satisfaction. Though significant research results and several deployments have occurred and been realized over the last few years, focusing on QoE-based multimedia technologies, several issues both of theoretical and practical importance remain open. Accordingly, the papers of this Special Issue are significant contribution samples within the general ecosystem highlighted above, ranging from QoE in the capture, processing and consumption of next-generation multimedia applications. In particular, a total of five excellent articles have been accepted, following a rigorous review process, which address many of the aforementioned challenges and beyond.

The exorbitant increase in the computational complexity of modern video coding standards, such as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), is a compelling challenge for resource-constrained consumer electronic devices. For instance, the brute force evaluation of all possible combinations of available coding modes and quadtree-based coding structure in HEVC to determine the optimum set of coding parameters for a given content demand a substantial amount of computational and energy resources. Thus, the resource requirements for real time operation of HEVC has become a contributing factor towards the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the end users of emerging multimedia and future internet applications. In this context, this paper proposes a content-adaptive Coding Unit (CU) size selection algorithm for HEVC intra-prediction. The proposed algorithm builds content-specific weighted Support Vector Machine (SVM) models in real time during the encoding process, to provide an early estimate of CU size for a given content, avoiding the brute force evaluation of all possible coding mode combinations in HEVC. The experimental results demonstrate an average encoding time reduction of 52.38%, with an average Bjøntegaard Delta Bit Rate (BDBR) increase of 1.19% compared to the HM16.1 reference encoder. Furthermore, the perceptual visual quality assessments conducted through Video Quality Metric (VQM) show minimal visual quality impact on the reconstructed videos of the proposed algorithm compared to state-of-the-art approaches.