Volume
OASIcs, Volume 144
15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)
-
Part of:
Series:
Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)
Conference: Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE)
Event
Editors
- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), ISTAR, Lisboa, Portugal, INESC-ID Lisboa, Portugal
Publication Details
- published at: 2026-07-28
- Publisher: Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik
- ISBN: 978-3-95977-440-6
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Document
Complete Volume
OASIcs, Volume 144, SLATE 2026, Complete Volume
Abstract
OASIcs, Volume 144, SLATE 2026, Complete Volume
Cite as
15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 1-312, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@Proceedings{batista_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026,
title = {{OASIcs, Volume 144, SLATE 2026, Complete Volume}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {1--312},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-274870},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026},
annote = {Keywords: OASIcs, Volume 144, SLATE 2026, Complete Volume}
}
Document
Front Matter
Front Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, Conference Organization
Abstract
Front Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, Conference Organization
Cite as
15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 0:i-0:xii, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{batista_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.0,
author = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
title = {{Front Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, Conference Organization}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {0:i--0:xii},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.0},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-274863},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.0},
annote = {Keywords: Front Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, Conference Organization}
}
Document
Optimising Retrieval for Linguistic Question-Answering in European Portuguese: A Benchmark on Ciberdúvidas Da Língua Portuguesa
Abstract
Information retrieval for question-answering remains underexplored in specialised domains and under-resourced language variants such as European Portuguese. Existing benchmarks largely target general-domain English data and document-centric retrieval, failing to capture the semantic alignment required for linguistic consultation tasks over curated question–answer (QA) pairs. We address this gap by introducing a controlled evaluation framework for retrieval over the "Ciberdúvidas da Língua Portuguesa" corpus, comprising 29,145 expert-validated QA entries. Our approach systematically analyses the interaction between indexing strategies, encoder models, and retrieval paradigms, while modelling real-world query variability through a paraphrase-based benchmark of 600 queries across five user profiles, manually validated by a professional linguist to ensure semantic fidelity. Experiments show that dense retrieval with an IR-optimised monolingual encoder significantly outperforms both sparse (BM25) and hybrid methods, achieving a Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR) of 0.93. Notably, hybrid retrieval underperforms due to lexical mismatch interference, challenging prevailing assumptions in the literature. Our contributions include a novel benchmark framework for linguistic QA retrieval, empirical evidence supporting monolingual IR-specialised models, and insights into retrieval robustness under paraphrastic variation, enabling improved QA systems for specialised and low-resource environments.
Cite as
Pedro Moura, Inês Gama, Fernando Batista, and António Lopes. Optimising Retrieval for Linguistic Question-Answering in European Portuguese: A Benchmark on Ciberdúvidas Da Língua Portuguesa. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 1:1-1:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{moura_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.1,
author = {Moura, Pedro and Gama, In\^{e}s and Batista, Fernando and Lopes, Ant\'{o}nio},
title = {{Optimising Retrieval for Linguistic Question-Answering in European Portuguese: A Benchmark on Ciberd\'{u}vidas Da L{\'\i}ngua Portuguesa}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {1:1--1:17},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.1},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-266997},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.1},
annote = {Keywords: Information Retrieval, Question-Answering, European Portuguese, Sentence Encoders, Natural Language Processing}
}
Document
Evaluating the Prosodic Diversity of TTS Models for L2 Prosody Assessment
Abstract
Recent advances in text-to-speech (TTS) have led to synthetic speech that is often indistinguishable from natural speech at the level of individual utterances. However, it remains unclear whether such systems reproduce the prosodic variability observed in natural speech in a large native-speaker population. This question is particularly relevant for applications in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), as variability is a central property of prosody and a prerequisite for robust assessment.
In this work, we investigate whether TTS can approximate the distribution of prosodic patterns found in native speech, and whether it can serve as a reference for evaluating second language (L2) productions. To this end, we first compare different TTS models to native speakers, and then compare L2 speakers to synthetic speech by the model previously seen as the closest to native speakers.
Our results show that regardless of TTS achieving high perceptual quality, its prosodic variability substantially differs from that of native speakers. As a consequence, comparisons between L2 speech and TTS-based references reveal both the potential and the limitations of using synthetic speech for prosody assessment.
Cite as
Mariana Julião, Alberto Abad, and Helena Moniz. Evaluating the Prosodic Diversity of TTS Models for L2 Prosody Assessment. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 2:1-2:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{juliao_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.2,
author = {Juli\~{a}o, Mariana and Abad, Alberto and Moniz, Helena},
title = {{Evaluating the Prosodic Diversity of TTS Models for L2 Prosody Assessment}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {2:1--2:13},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.2},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267007},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.2},
annote = {Keywords: Speech synthesis, TTS, prosody, L1, L2}
}
Document
Cross-Language Text Readability Assessment: Leveraging Multilingual Models for Improved Performance in CEFR-Level Classification
Abstract
The automatic assessment of text readability and the classification of texts by levels is essential for language education and language industries that rely on effective communication. This study explores cross-language automatic readability level classification using the levels defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). We investigate the potential of using data in one language to improve classification performance in different languages and, thus, optimize the utilization of the limited labeled resources available for each language. We rely on a pre-trained multilingual Transformer-based language model, by fine-tuning it on annotated data in one language or in a combination of languages, and then assessing its ability to generalize even to unseen languages. In an additional scenario, we further fine-tune the models on data in the target language, to assess whether the models trained on data in different languages can capture generic information regarding text readability and then be further specialized to capture the specific characteristics of the target language. Our experiments covering the English, Dutch, and German languages revealed that direct generalization to unseen languages is challenging. However, when paired with data in the target language, multilingual data can be leveraged to capture cross-language aspects of text readability, leading to more robust and better-performing models.
Cite as
Eugénio Ribeiro and Jorge Baptista. Cross-Language Text Readability Assessment: Leveraging Multilingual Models for Improved Performance in CEFR-Level Classification. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 3:1-3:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{ribeiro_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.3,
author = {Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Baptista, Jorge},
title = {{Cross-Language Text Readability Assessment: Leveraging Multilingual Models for Improved Performance in CEFR-Level Classification}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {3:1--3:13},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.3},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267016},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.3},
annote = {Keywords: Readability, Text Complexity, CEFR, Multilinguality}
}
Document
BERT-Based Classification of Cross-Linguistic MCQs According to the Bloom Taxonomy
Abstract
The Bloom Taxonomy provides a useful framework for describing the cognitive demands of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), yet automatically assigning Bloom levels remains challenging due to category overlap and the limited evidence of higher-order thinking in MCQs. This study aims to evaluate transformer-based models, including BERT and ModernBERT variants, to enhance their performance on a four-level Bloom classification task across multiple scenarios, while also conducting model interpretability and error analysis.
Across 40 settings tested, BERT models consistently outperform a keyword-based baseline, highlighting the contextual and semantic representations for this task. Performance is broadly similar between BERT and ModernBERT, with only minor differences across architectures, while the inclusion of answer options yields only small gains, suggesting that the question stem alone contains most of the discriminative signal. Besides, cross-linguistic experiments show comparable results between the original English data and Portuguese, although translated data exhibits a slight performance degradation, likely due to direct translation noise and subtle syntactic shifts. Errors are concentrated between adjacent Bloom levels, and models perform best on the Remembering level. In contrast, the Applying level remains the most difficult class to predict, largely because of class imbalance and conceptual overlap.
The findings indicate that our approach constitutes a stable pipeline for Bloom classification, but its performance remains constrained by the intrinsic ambiguity of the taxonomy and the structural characteristics of the available data.
Cite as
João Francisco Botas, Ana Rita Peixoto, and Eugénio Ribeiro. BERT-Based Classification of Cross-Linguistic MCQs According to the Bloom Taxonomy. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 4:1-4:17, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{botas_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.4,
author = {Botas, Jo\~{a}o Francisco and Peixoto, Ana Rita and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio},
title = {{BERT-Based Classification of Cross-Linguistic MCQs According to the Bloom Taxonomy}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {4:1--4:17},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.4},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267025},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.4},
annote = {Keywords: Bloom Taxonomy, Multiple Choice Questions, Transformers, Multi-Language, Natural Language Processing, Educational Assessment}
}
Document
Inter-Sentential Relations in Enhanced Lexicalized Meaning Representation (E-LMR)
Abstract
Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) is a widely adopted framework for graph-based sentence-level semantics. However, its abstraction from surface form and its focus on intra-sentential structure limit its ability to capture discourse-level phenomena. Uniform Meaning Representation (UMR) addresses this limitation by introducing cross-sentential mechanisms, at the cost of increased representational complexity. We argue that inter-sentential relations can be modeled without abandoning lexical anchoring. Within Lexicalized Meaning Representation, we propose a programmatic extension grounded in three domains: (i) nominal and pronominal anaphora, (ii) temporal anchoring, and (iii) inter-sentential cohesion devices. We call this Enhanced LMR (E-LMR). We contend that these relations are not abstract add-ons, but are lexically realized and should be represented accordingly. Rather than a full annotation scheme, we introduce design principles and representation strategies illustrated with European Portuguese data. A lexically grounded approach improves interpretability, annotation consistency, and cross-linguistic robustness. We thus position E-LMR as a viable alternative within a modular semantic architecture where discourse relations are explicitly encoded while remaining tightly coupled to lexical form.
Cite as
Jorge Baptista. Inter-Sentential Relations in Enhanced Lexicalized Meaning Representation (E-LMR). In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 5:1-5:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{baptista:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.5,
author = {Baptista, Jorge},
title = {{Inter-Sentential Relations in Enhanced Lexicalized Meaning Representation (E-LMR)}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {5:1--5:18},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.5},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267030},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.5},
annote = {Keywords: Inter-sentential relations, Lexicalized Meaning Representation, Nominal and Pronominal Anaphora Resolution, Temporal Anaphora Resolution, Inter-Sentential Cohesion Devices, European Portuguese}
}
Document
A Topic–Word Graph for Topic Modeling Visualization
Abstract
Topic Modeling (TM) is a widely used method for discovering hidden themes in unlabeled text collections, but the resulting topics are often difficult to interpret. Most existing visualizations present topics separately and do not show the words that link them, offering only a partial view of how topics relate to one another. This work introduces a graph‑based representation in which topics and words are modeled as connected nodes. This structure makes shared words explicit and allows users to observe how individual terms contribute to multiple thematic areas within the corpus. By encoding topic–word relationships as edges, the visualization reveals the distribution of these connections and provides a more detailed perspective than traditional topic‑centric displays. The graph includes four node types, defined by their role and degree (number of connections). The developed tool, topicwordgraph, offers two complementary visualizations: a main graph representation that distinguishes node types by color, and two bar charts that summarize topic overlap and word memberships. Together, these views help users understand how topics intertwine through shared vocabulary. By making the shared words between topics explicit, this tool offers a practical and effective way to interpret how topics are interconnected.
Cite as
Ana Rita Peixoto. A Topic–Word Graph for Topic Modeling Visualization. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 6:1-6:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{peixoto:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.6,
author = {Peixoto, Ana Rita},
title = {{A Topic–Word Graph for Topic Modeling Visualization}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {6:1--6:11},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.6},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267041},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.6},
annote = {Keywords: Topic Modeling, Data Visualization, Graph‑Based Representation, Topic Interpretability, Text Mining}
}
Document
Polarizations in Static Word Embeddings: Investigating Bias in Marginalized Dialects of Portuguese
Abstract
This study investigates bias in static word embeddings applied to Pajubá, a dialect spoken within the Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ community. Four models from the NILC repository (Word2Vec, GloVe, FastText, and Wang2Vec) were evaluated across two dimensions: representational capacity and polarity analysis. The vocabulary coverage test revealed that approximately 74% of dialectal terms are present in the models' vector spaces. The RND and SC-WEAT tests consistently point toward negative associations for identity terms across all models, with the SC-WEAT further suggesting that reappropriated dialect terms carry their standard Portuguese positive valence into the embedding space, while explicit identitarian markers remain negatively encoded. An adjectivation test confirms stereotypical associations, including the linkage of travesti with criminality and the pathologisation of gay. These findings suggest that static word embeddings fail to capture the sociolinguistic complexity of Pajubá and systematically reflect the dominant and often discriminatory discourses present in the training corpora.
Cite as
Raimundo Juracy Campos Ferro Junior, Eugénio Ribeiro, and Leonardo Sampaio Rocha. Polarizations in Static Word Embeddings: Investigating Bias in Marginalized Dialects of Portuguese. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 7:1-7:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{ferrojunior_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.7,
author = {Ferro Junior, Raimundo Juracy Campos and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Rocha, Leonardo Sampaio},
title = {{Polarizations in Static Word Embeddings: Investigating Bias in Marginalized Dialects of Portuguese}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {7:1--7:15},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.7},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267055},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.7},
annote = {Keywords: word embeddings, bias detection, Portuguese, LGBTQIAP+, pajub\'{a}, NLP, lexical association, static embeddings}
}
Document
Gender Bias Evaluation in English-Portuguese Automated Translation Outputs
Abstract
Automated translation (AT) plays a pivotal role in breaking down language barriers and fostering cross-cultural communication. However, gender bias in AT remains a pressing concern, particularly for language pairs where the source language generally does not have grammatical gender and the target language does. In this context, the present research aims to assess gender bias in English-Portuguese AT outputs. Two machine translation (MT) systems and two LLMs are evaluated in this study, examining the correlation between translated gender and societal stereotypes, and how the different models handle nouns whose gender is unknown. The outputs of two commercial MT systems (Google Translate and DeepL Translator) and two general-purpose LLMs (ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek-V3), translating from English into European Portuguese, were analyzed. We used a subset of the WinoMT challenge set to assess gender rendering accuracy across three conditions: gender-defined nouns, gender-undefined nouns, and anaphoric pronoun resolution. Our main goal is therefore to evaluate the accuracy of gender information transmission and to understand the extent to which gender bias is present in AT outputs. Our results indicate that all four models struggle to faithfully convey gender information from source to target, with male-centric outputs predominating across conditions and MT systems showing a more pronounced bias. This work contributes a preliminary cross-system comparison for an underexplored language pair and lays the groundwork for larger-scale evaluations of gender-inclusive AT.
Cite as
Xiaolan Xu and Sara Mendes. Gender Bias Evaluation in English-Portuguese Automated Translation Outputs. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 8:1-8:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{xu_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.8,
author = {Xu, Xiaolan and Mendes, Sara},
title = {{Gender Bias Evaluation in English-Portuguese Automated Translation Outputs}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {8:1--8:14},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.8},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267065},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.8},
annote = {Keywords: Gender Bias, Large Language Models (LLMs), Neural Machine Translation (NMT), English-Portuguese Translation}
}
Document
Cost-Effective Hate Speech Detection in Portuguese Using Lightweight LLMs
Abstract
Addressing Online Hate Speech (OHS) in Portuguese faces significant challenges, including a lack of comprehensive, annotated data and classification frameworks, effective detection tools, and the high computational cost of Large Language Models (LLMs). This work evaluates the efficiency and competitiveness of seven smaller, more accessible LLMs (ranging from 3B to 27B parameters) through zero-shot classification with structured instructions, leveraging the expert-annotated test dataset and annotation scheme of the kNOwHATE project. Findings indicate that models such as Mistral Small 3.2 24B, Gemma 3 27B, and Phi-4 achieve competitive performance, balancing precision and recall, whilst remaining computationally affordable. While excelling in identifying direct and indirect hate speech, out-group derogation, and specific target groups, the models faced challenges in detecting subtle rhetorical devices and emotions. Analysis of the Cohen’s Kappa and F1-scores revealed moderate agreement with human annotators, highlighting the potential of optimised models to democratise OHS detection in resource-constrained settings, alongside the need for further refinement to bridge the gap in human-level nuance and improve generalisation. This study aims to broaden knowledge regarding the detection of OHS in Portuguese, by demonstrating a viable, competitive, and low-cost approach that does not rely on large-scale infrastructure or expensive proprietary models.
Cite as
Mauro Cardoso, Eugénio Ribeiro, and Fernando Batista. Cost-Effective Hate Speech Detection in Portuguese Using Lightweight LLMs. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 9:1-9:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{cardoso_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.9,
author = {Cardoso, Mauro and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Batista, Fernando},
title = {{Cost-Effective Hate Speech Detection in Portuguese Using Lightweight LLMs}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {9:1--9:16},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.9},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267077},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.9},
annote = {Keywords: Hate Speech Detection, Zero-shot Classification, Lightweight Language Models}
}
Document
Assessing LLMs for Culturally Sensitive Communication in European Portuguese
Abstract
This paper investigates the ability of LLMs to identify culturally sensitive communication in European Portuguese, in comparison with human performance. The study addresses cross-cultural communication issues arising within a single language, including miscommunication, bias, framing, and stereotyping. The task is formulated as a multi-component problem combining detection, classification, span identification, and reformulation of problematic content. A dataset of 60 sentences, balanced between problematic and neutral instances, was constructed from real-world corpora and annotated by expert linguists. Three open-weight multilingual models were evaluated alongside human annotators with diverse backgrounds. Results show that LLMs achieve high accuracy in detecting problematic content, outperforming non-expert participants and approaching expert performance. However, both models and humans exhibit low agreement in the classification of communication issues, reflecting the conceptual overlap between categories. While models generate consistent reformulations, they show limitations in span precision and contextual interpretation. The findings highlight a gap between detection and interpretation capabilities and support the use of LLMs as assistive tools in cross-cultural communication tasks, particularly in politically sensitive contexts.
Cite as
Alice Vieira, Raquel Amaro, and Lyndon Nixon. Assessing LLMs for Culturally Sensitive Communication in European Portuguese. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 10:1-10:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{vieira_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.10,
author = {Vieira, Alice and Amaro, Raquel and Nixon, Lyndon},
title = {{Assessing LLMs for Culturally Sensitive Communication in European Portuguese}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {10:1--10:14},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.10},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267085},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.10},
annote = {Keywords: LLM, culturally sensitive communication, evaluation}
}
Document
Short Paper
Developing an AI-Based Application for Linguistic Analysis of Deaf Learners' L2 Writing (Short Paper)
Abstract
The teaching of written language as a second language (L2) to deaf students remains a critical challenge in bilingual education. This is also the case for written Portuguese in Brazil, where difficulties persist particularly in the analysis of students' written production and its use in pedagogical decision-making. This paper presents the ongoing development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) aimed at supporting the qualified linguistic analysis of texts produced by deaf learners. Rather than functioning as a correction tool, the system is conceived as a pedagogically oriented analytical assistant, designed to identify patterns related to formal aspects of writing and their functional-communicative impact. The proposed model is structured around three analytical subdimensions (FORM_PROD, FORM_IMP, and FORM_FUN) and implemented through a prompt-based architecture using a Large Language Model (LLM). Preliminary results from a pilot study with five learner texts suggest the feasibility of distinguishing between formal instability and communicative effectiveness, generating interpretable and pedagogically relevant outputs. These findings point to the potential of AI to support language teaching in bilingual contexts involving deaf learners.
Cite as
Aryane Santos Nogueira and Ana Célia Ribeiro Bizigato Portes. Developing an AI-Based Application for Linguistic Analysis of Deaf Learners' L2 Writing (Short Paper). In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 11:1-11:10, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{nogueira_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.11,
author = {Nogueira, Aryane Santos and Portes, Ana C\'{e}lia Ribeiro Bizigato},
title = {{Developing an AI-Based Application for Linguistic Analysis of Deaf Learners' L2 Writing}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {11:1--11:10},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.11},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267098},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.11},
annote = {Keywords: Deaf education, Second language writing, Linguistic analysis, Generative AI, Natural Language Processing}
}
Document
OntoExpand: SPARQL-Based Ontology Expansion and Reasoning
Abstract
The growing complexity and volume of OWL ontologies in the Semantic Web context present challenges for reasoning and knowledge expansion. Traditional ontology reasoners often face high computational costs, limiting their scalability and real-time applicability. Additionally there are other situations where reasonners crash and are not able to expand the ontology (for example, if your pattern includes property chains involving an irreflexive relation). This paper introduces OntoExpand, a new methodology for ontology expansion that uses SPARQL CONSTRUCT queries as an efficient alternative to conventional reasoning techniques. In OntoExpand we have created a mapping between OWL axioms and CONSTRUCT queries that are able to generate the new triples. These inferred triples are then reintegrated into the ontology using SPARQL INSERT queries, enabling incremental knowledge enrichment. This approach improves performance, reduces computational overhead, is pattern driven allowing a more granular expansion control and seamlessly integrates with SPARQL endpoints. OntoExpand is evaluated on multiple ontologies with varying sizes and complexities, demonstrating its scalability and practical utility in dynamic, ontology-driven environments. The results show that OntoExpand offers a viable and efficient mechanism for reasoning and expanding OWL ontologies, making it suitable for large-scale Semantic Web applications where traditional reasoning may be infeasible.
Cite as
Vitor Lelis N. Leite and José Carlos L. Ramalho. OntoExpand: SPARQL-Based Ontology Expansion and Reasoning. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 12:1-12:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{leite_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.12,
author = {Leite, Vitor Lelis N. and Ramalho, Jos\'{e} Carlos L.},
title = {{OntoExpand: SPARQL-Based Ontology Expansion and Reasoning}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {12:1--12:15},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.12},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267101},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.12},
annote = {Keywords: OWL Ontologies, SPARQL, Reasoning, Knowledge Expansion, Inference}
}
Document
Deductive Databases and Logic Programming
Abstract
Logic programming is an excellent platform for implementing declarative rule-based systems in artificial intelligence (AI). It is also well-suited for mediating between declarative tools such as relational or deductive databases, semi-structured databases (XML), and semantic web databases (based on RDF or OWL). Often, domain-specific languages are used in expert systems based on user-defined infix operators.
For the evaluation of expert rule bases, the declarative bottom-up computation of Datalog known from deductive databases can be complemented with Prolog’s top-down evaluation. We will review some related work on logic programming and deductive databases and describe some tools with examples for declarative logic programming in Prolog and Datalog for information systems in AI that have been implemented within the declarative toolkit Declare.
Cite as
Dietmar Seipel and Salvador Abreu. Deductive Databases and Logic Programming. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 13:1-13:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{seipel_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.13,
author = {Seipel, Dietmar and Abreu, Salvador},
title = {{Deductive Databases and Logic Programming}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {13:1--13:12},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.13},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267118},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.13},
annote = {Keywords: Deductive Databases, Knowledge Bases, Logic Programming}
}
Document
An OWL/RDF Ontology for Declarative User Interface Generation
Abstract
Maintaining user interfaces for data-intensive applications is costly because interface code is tightly coupled to the underlying domain model: any change to an operation or data schema forces manual updates across multiple layers of the software stack. We present OntologyToUI, a framework that treats ontologies written in OWL (Web Ontology Language)/RDF (Resource Description Framework) as a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for user-interface specification. Five modular base ontologies (schema-level definitions of abstract classes and properties, with no domain-specific instances) define the metamodel, covering communication technologies, external code references, data metadata, business operations, and User Interface (UI) element types. Domain-specific view ontologies, written in Turtle, instantiate the OntologyToUI-UserInterface ontology to declare UI elements. A generic React-based rendering engine interprets view ontologies at runtime through SPARQL (SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language) queries and a configuration-driven dispatch table, mapping element types to components without any domain-specific logic. We validate the framework through two case studies developed in the scope of the Smart_LEM project [{Smart_LEM Consortium}, 2022]: a Local Electricity Market management platform, where eleven views were created with zero application-code changes; and a real-time Internet of Things (IoT) dashboard that introduces a new Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT)-subscribed element type, demonstrating the framework’s extensibility.
Cite as
Daniel Theisges da Costa, Júlio Costa, Paulo Jorge Teixeira Matos, Ramon Gallinad Corti, Ramon Vilanova Arbos, and Maria João Varanda Pereira. An OWL/RDF Ontology for Declarative User Interface Generation. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 14:1-14:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{dacosta_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.14,
author = {da Costa, Daniel Theisges and Costa, J\'{u}lio and Matos, Paulo Jorge Teixeira and Corti, Ramon Gallinad and Vilanova Arbos, Ramon and Pereira, Maria Jo\~{a}o Varanda},
title = {{An OWL/RDF Ontology for Declarative User Interface Generation}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {14:1--14:11},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.14},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267120},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.14},
annote = {Keywords: OWL, RDF, domain-specific language, user interface generation, model-driven engineering, React, SPARQL, MQTT}
}
Document
A Silent Multi-Agent Recommendation Engine with Graph-Augmented Memory for Immersive B2B E-Commerce
Abstract
Currently, e-commerce platforms are transitioning from static 2D catalogues to immersive environments, requiring recommendation systems to process complex behavioural signals. Traditional collaborative filtering struggles with cold-start scenarios and lacks semantic understanding of product catalogues. This paper presents a silent multi-agent recommendation engine developed for the VIMOS (Virtual Integrated Market Online Shopping) project, designed to operate without explicit textual input. Orchestrated via a LangGraph Directed Acyclic Graph, the system utilises Agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to dynamically synthesise behavioural signals, dense vector retrieval (Qdrant), and knowledge graph traversal (Apache AGE). A locally hosted Llama 3.1 8B model autonomously extracts implicit user preferences to update a persistent graph database and generates deterministic, human-readable explanations for each recommendation. A two-shot verifier engineering pattern is introduced to resolve the structural incompatibility between dynamic candidate sets and static graph execution. The architecture is validated using a controlled synthetic dataset of B2B industrial products - sufficient for functional validation of all agent routing paths - demonstrating high retrieval accuracy, strict constraint adherence (stock and availability verification), and sub-4-second end-to-end latency (when the generative semantic justification step is bypassed) with no external API dependencies.
Cite as
Davi Silva Eleuterio, Pedro Filipe Oliveira, and Paulo Matos. A Silent Multi-Agent Recommendation Engine with Graph-Augmented Memory for Immersive B2B E-Commerce. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 15:1-15:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{eleuterio_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.15,
author = {Eleuterio, Davi Silva and Oliveira, Pedro Filipe and Matos, Paulo},
title = {{A Silent Multi-Agent Recommendation Engine with Graph-Augmented Memory for Immersive B2B E-Commerce}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {15:1--15:14},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.15},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267131},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.15},
annote = {Keywords: multi-agent systems, agentic RAG, product recommendation, LangGraph}
}
Document
Coordinating Multi‑Assistant Interaction in Smart Homes: A Front‑End Delegation Approach
Abstract
Smart home environments increasingly integrate multiple domain-specific assistants, yet interaction remains fragmented across heterogeneous interfaces. Users are required to adapt to different systems and interaction modalities, which introduces complexity and reduces accessibility, particularly in scenarios such as active ageing.
This work aims to design a unified conversational abstraction that enables seamless interaction with multiple specialised assistants through a single entry point. The goal is to decouple user interaction from underlying services while preserving modularity and extensibility.
We present the Butler Assistant, a modular conversational framework that orchestrates multiple domain-specific assistants within a unified architecture. The system introduces a routing layer based on a shared registry and supports interchangeable routing engines. Two approaches are explored: a lexical model based on Naive Bayes and a semantic model based on sentence embeddings. The system is evaluated under both in-domain and out-of-domain scenarios.
The evaluation shows that the semantic model improves routing accuracy in domains with limited training data, demonstrating stronger generalization capabilities. In contrast, the lexical model is more sensitive to training data distribution, achieving strong performance in well-represented domains but degrading in low-resource scenarios. Importantly, both approaches exhibit reliable behaviour in out-of-domain conditions, consistently redirecting unsupported inputs to fallback outcomes and avoiding incorrect domain assignments. These results highlight the complementary strengths of lexical and semantic routing and emphasize the role of system-level decision mechanisms in ensuring safe and robust conversational interaction.
Cite as
Pedro Carneiro, Inês Águia, Nuno Almeida, and António Teixeira. Coordinating Multi‑Assistant Interaction in Smart Homes: A Front‑End Delegation Approach. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 16:1-16:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{carneiro_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.16,
author = {Carneiro, Pedro and \'{A}guia, In\^{e}s and Almeida, Nuno and Teixeira, Ant\'{o}nio},
title = {{Coordinating Multi‑Assistant Interaction in Smart Homes: A Front‑End Delegation Approach}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {16:1--16:16},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.16},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267140},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.16},
annote = {Keywords: Conversational Assistants, Smart Homes, Na\"{i}ve Bayes, Embedding‑driven Semantic Similarity}
}
Document
From Natural Language to Structured Queries: An LLM-Powered Chatbot for a Smart Tourism Observatory
Abstract
The accessibility of Smart Tourism Initiatives and Tools (STITs) is a cornerstone of digital transformation in the tourism sector. The EUROSTIT project addresses this through a European Observatory that catalogs these technologies. However, sifting through hundreds of results remains a significant challenge for users. This paper presents a specialized conversational agent that facilitates discovery through a filter-based natural language interface. Departing from computationally intensive fine-tuning, our architecture uses prompt engineering - specifically, one-shot Chain-of-Thought (CoT) reasoning - to generate boolean search queries (BSQs). This approach enables the system to distinguish conversational fillers and other irrelevant terms from domain-specific smart tourism entities, autonomously translating free-text into structured database queries. We describe a dynamic web application with a synchronized user experience where conversational input acts as cumulative filters. The performance of different LLMs is compared through various metrics. We conducted quantitative evaluations to gain insight into the feasibility of using readily available commercial LLMs, instead of resource-heavy model fine-tuning for domain-specific boolean search query generation.
Cite as
Rodrigo Bravo Simões, Adriano Lopes, and Fernando Brito e Abreu. From Natural Language to Structured Queries: An LLM-Powered Chatbot for a Smart Tourism Observatory. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 17:1-17:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{bravosimoes_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.17,
author = {Bravo Sim\~{o}es, Rodrigo and Lopes, Adriano and Brito e Abreu, Fernando},
title = {{From Natural Language to Structured Queries: An LLM-Powered Chatbot for a Smart Tourism Observatory}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {17:1--17:11},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.17},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267152},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.17},
annote = {Keywords: Large Language Models (LLMs), Prompt Engineering, Chain-of-Thought (CoT), Boolean Search Query (BSQ) Generation, Natural Language Interfaces (NLI), Smart Tourism, Chatbots}
}
Document
Short Paper
Automating the Classification of Smart Tourism Tools with LLMs: A Taxonomy-Driven Approach (Short Paper)
Abstract
Smart Tourism Tools (STTs) are digital solutions that support tourism stakeholders in designing, managing, promoting, and enhancing tourism experiences. As the number and diversity of these tools increase, consistent classification becomes essential for organizing them in observatory-like repositories and making them easier to search, compare, and reuse. However, previous attempts to classify STTs using Large Language Models (LLMs) showed that broad taxonomy descriptions can lead to subjective and inconsistent interpretations. This paper proposes an improved STT classification framework that operationalizes the original taxonomy as a set of binary classification questions. Each taxonomy category is represented by a yes/no question, making the classification process more explicit, traceable, and easier to analyze. The taxonomy is also refined by renaming selected action domains and categories and removing one low-utility category. An exploratory evaluation was conducted using 100 randomly selected English-language STT descriptions and three state-of-the-art LLMs. A randomly selected subset of 20 examples was validated by a human expert. The results suggest that the proposed framework can support LLM-based classification with substantial alignment to expert judgment, while also revealing remaining challenges related to over-classification and ambiguous category boundaries. The paper contributes a more transparent and reproducible framework for classifying STTs and provides initial evidence of its feasibility for semi-automatic classification in smart tourism observatories.
Cite as
Diogo Cosme, Fernando Batista, António Galvão, and Fernando Brito e Abreu. Automating the Classification of Smart Tourism Tools with LLMs: A Taxonomy-Driven Approach (Short Paper). In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 18:1-18:11, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{cosme_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.18,
author = {Cosme, Diogo and Batista, Fernando and Galv\~{a}o, Ant\'{o}nio and Abreu, Fernando Brito e},
title = {{Automating the Classification of Smart Tourism Tools with LLMs: A Taxonomy-Driven Approach}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {18:1--18:11},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.18},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267161},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.18},
annote = {Keywords: Language Models (LMs), Multi-Label Learning, Domain-Specific NLP, Taxonomy Alignment, Smart Tourism Systems}
}
Document
Lazarus: Where Compilers Meet Education
Abstract
Lazarus is an intentionally compact platform featuring an optimizing compiler, a lightweight virtual machine and IDE integration. Its small size, lets students explore every compilation stage by experimenting with a compiler inspired by modern systems. At the core lies an incremental parser, that only re-parses the surrounding areas of the changed text in an IDE environment, and an SSA-based optimizer. The target machine is a register-based virtual machine, that mimics native architectures, and provides a debugger. This paper presents both the source language, and its register-based virtual machine, while discussing an often neglected feature in compiler design: the incremental parser.
Cite as
Rui Gonçalves, Pedro Rangel Henriques, and José Carlos Ramalho. Lazarus: Where Compilers Meet Education. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 19:1-19:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{goncalves_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.19,
author = {Gon\c{c}alves, Rui and Henriques, Pedro Rangel and Ramalho, Jos\'{e} Carlos},
title = {{Lazarus: Where Compilers Meet Education}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {19:1--19:18},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.19},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267173},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.19},
annote = {Keywords: Object-Oriented Programming, Compilation, SSA, Optimization, Virtual Machine, IDE}
}
Document
Short Paper
Out of the Loop No More: Online Abstract Debugging with Loop Stepping (Short Paper)
Abstract
Traditional debugging makes it practically impossible to manually explore all execution paths, often leaving hypotheses insufficiently explored. Abstract debugging addresses this problem by safely over-approximating all program behaviours through a familiar stepping interface. However, existing approaches operate offline, pre-computing fixed loop summaries that developers cannot interactively refine or inspect at the individual iteration level.
In this paper, we propose online abstract debugging, which performs abstract interpretation on demand as the developer steps through the program. This novel architecture enables loop stepping: developers can step into a loop body for precise, iteration-specific states, or step-over to obtain a coarser summary. By interleaving analysis with execution, developers gain direct control over the cost-precision trade-off, computing high precision only where needed to settle a hypothesis. We instantiate this model for WebAssembly and present a prototype implementation, demonstrating that developers can effectively draw sound conclusions about complex, potentially non-terminating looping programs.
Cite as
João Alvim, Maarten Steevens, and Christophe Scholliers. Out of the Loop No More: Online Abstract Debugging with Loop Stepping (Short Paper). In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 20:1-20:10, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{alvim_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.20,
author = {Alvim, Jo\~{a}o and Steevens, Maarten and Scholliers, Christophe},
title = {{Out of the Loop No More: Online Abstract Debugging with Loop Stepping}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {20:1--20:10},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.20},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267180},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.20},
annote = {Keywords: Debugging, Abstract Interpretation}
}
Document
RI: A DSL for Software Development Project Continuous Configuration
Abstract
This paper addresses the challenges related to standardization and automation in the development and maintenance of microservice-based architectures, particularly in heterogeneous environments involving multiple development teams. In such contexts, the absence of unified standards for service definition and implementation, combined with technological diversity and team fragmentation, can lead to architectural inconsistencies, increased integration effort, difficulties in system evolution, and higher maintenance costs over time. Additionally, a significant portion of configuration, orchestration, and artifact generation tasks is performed manually, increasing the risk of errors and rework. As a solution, this paper proposes a Domain-Specific Language (DSL), named RI language, designed for the declarative description of microservices, along with a supporting tool, TSE (Toolbox Service Executor), implemented in Python (PLY) and based on the RI grammar. The tool is responsible for interpreting specifications written in RI and automating the generation of software artifacts through extensible plugins. The proposed approach enables the representation of structural and operational aspects of services in a technology-agnostic manner, promoting consistency, reuse, and reduction of manual effort.
Cite as
Cássio Ritse Machado Dos Santos Silva, Maria João Varanda Pereira, Paulo Alexandre Vara Alves, and Gustavo Jansen de Souza Santos. RI: A DSL for Software Development Project Continuous Configuration. In 15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 144, pp. 21:1-21:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)
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@InProceedings{dossantossilva_et_al:OASIcs.SLATE.2026.21,
author = {Dos Santos Silva, C\'{a}ssio Ritse Machado and Pereira, Maria Jo\~{a}o Varanda and Alves, Paulo Alexandre Vara and de Souza Santos, Gustavo Jansen},
title = {{RI: A DSL for Software Development Project Continuous Configuration}},
booktitle = {15th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2026)},
pages = {21:1--21:14},
series = {Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
ISBN = {978-3-95977-440-6},
ISSN = {2190-6807},
year = {2026},
volume = {144},
editor = {Batista, Fernando and Ribeiro, Eug\'{e}nio and Ribeiro, Ricardo and Santos, Andr\'{e} L.},
publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.21},
URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267192},
doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SLATE.2026.21},
annote = {Keywords: DSL, microservices, software configuration, code generator}
}