Flexible Query Answering Systems is an edited collection of contributed chapters. It focuses on developing computer systems capable of transforming a query into an answer with useful information. The emphasis is on problems associated with high-level intelligent answering systems. The coverage is multidisciplinary with chapters by authors from information science, logic, fuzzy systems, databases, artificial intelligence and knowledge representation. Each contribution represents a theory involving flexibility in query-answering, and each addresses specific answering problems. Coverage includes topics such as fuzzy sets in flexible querying, non-standard database interactions, metareasoning and agents, and many others. Contributions for this volume were written by leading researchers from their respective subject areas, including Patrick Bosc, Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, Amihai Motro, Henri Prade and Ron Yager, among others. Flexible Query Answering Systems is a timely contribution for researchers working on high-level query mechanism systems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2023, held in September 2023 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The 24 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: Flexible Queries over Semantic Systems; Advanced Methods and Applications in Natural Language; Processing (NLP); New Advances in Disinformation Detection; Data and Text Mining; Applying AI to Social Science and Social Science to AI; Artificial Intelligence Law and Regulation.

ThisvolumeconstitutestheproceedingsoftheSixthInternationalConferenceon Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2004, held in Lyon, France, on June 24–26, 2004. FQAS is the premier conference for researchers and practitioners concerned with the vital task of providing easy, ?exible, and intuitive access to information for every type of need. This multidisciplinary conference draws on several research areas, including databases, information retrieval, knowledge representation, soft computing, multimedia, and human-computer interaction. With FQAS 2004, the FQAS conference series celebrated its tenth anniversary as it has been held every two years since 1994. The overall theme of the FQAS conferences is innovative query systems aimed at providing easy, ?exible, and intuitive access to information. Such systems are intended to facilitate retrieval from information repositories such as databases, libraries, and the Web. These repositories are typically equipped with standard query systems that are often inadequate for users. The focus of FQAS is the development of query systems that are more expressive, informative, cooperative, productive, and intuitive to use.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2021, held virtually and in Bratislava, Slovakia, in September 2021. The 16 full papers and 1 perspective papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 17 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: model-based flexible query answering approaches and data-driven approaches.

ThisvolumeconstitutestheproceedingsoftheFifthInternationalConferenceon Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2002, held in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 27–29, 2002. FQAS is the premier conference for researchers and practitioners concerned with the vital task of providing easy, ?exible, and intuitive access to information for every type of need. This multidisciplinary conference draws on several re- arch areas, including databases, information retrieval, knowledge representation, soft computing, multimedia, and human–computer interaction. Previous FQAS events were held in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. The overall theme of the FQAS conferences is innovative query systems - medatprovidingeasy,?exible,andintuitiveaccesstoinformation.Suchsystems are intended to facilitate retrieval from information repositories such as data- ses,libraries,andtheWorld-WideWeb.Theserepositoriesaretypicallyequipped with standard query systems which are often inadequate, and the focus of FQAS is the development of query systems that are more expressive, informative, c- perative, and productive. These proceedings contain 29 original papers that relate to the topic of users posing queries and systems producing answers. The papers cover the ?elds: - tabase Management, Information Retrieval, Domain Modeling, Knowledge - presentation and Ontologies, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Arti?cial Intelligence, Classical and Non-classical Logics, Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, Multimedia Information Systems, and Human– Computer Interaction. We wish to thank the contributors for their excellent papers and the referees, publisher, and sponsors for their e?ort. Special thanks also to the invited sp- kers, members of the Advisory Board, and members of the Program Committee. They made the success of FQAS 2002 possible.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2009, held in Roskilde, Denmark, in October 2009. The 57 papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 90 submissions. They are structured in topical sections on database management, information retrieval, extraction and mining, ontologies and semantic web, intelligent information extraction from texts, advances in fuzzy querying, personalization, preferences, context and recommendation, and Web as a stream.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2006, held in Milan, Italy in June 2006. The book presents 60 revised full papers, organized in topical sections on flexibility in database management and querying, vagueness and uncertainty in XML querying and retrieval, information retrieval and filtering, multimedia information access, user modeling and personalization, knowledge and data extraction, and more.