PUBLICATIONS

Journal articles, conference papers, and preprints in NLP, machine learning, computer vision and low-resource language technologies.

A Unified Framework with Novel Metrics for Evaluating the Effectiveness of XAI Techniques in LLMs

Melkamu Abay Mersha, Mesay G. Yigezu, Hassan Shakil, Ali Al Shami, SangHyun Byun, Jugal Kalita | arXiv preprint | 2025

Proposes a unified evaluation framework and novel metrics for assessing explainable AI techniques in large language models.

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Explainable AI: XAI-Guided Context-Aware Data Augmentation

Melkamu Abay Mersha, Mesay G. Yigezu, Atnafu Lambebo Tonja, Hassan Shakil, Samer Iskander, Olga Kolesnikova, Jugal Kalita | Expert Systems with Applications | 2025

Introduces an XAI-guided augmentation framework that preserves important task-relevant features while improving performance on low-resource NLP tasks.

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of XAI Techniques for Encoder-Based Language Models

Melkamu Mersha, Mesay G. Yigezu, Jugal Kalita | Knowledge-Based Systems | 2025

Evaluates XAI methods for encoder-based language models using metrics such as human-reasoning agreement, robustness, consistency, and contrastivity.

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Bilingual Word Level Language Identification for Omotic Languages

Mesay G. Yigezu, Girma Yohannis Bade, Atnafu Lambebo Tonja, Olga Kolesnikova, Grigori Sidorov, Alexander F. Gelbukh | arXiv preprint | 2025

Presents a bilingual word-level language identification approach for Omotic languages, contributing to low-resource language processing.

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Odio-BERT: Evaluating Domain Task Impact in Hate Speech Detection

Mesay G. Yigezu, Olga Kolesnikova, Alexander Gelbukh, Grigori Sidorov, et al. | Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems | 2025

Introduces Odio-BERT, a domain-adapted BERT model for hate speech detection, showing the benefits of domain-specific modeling.

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EthioLLM: Multilingual Large Language Models for Ethiopian Languages with Task Evaluation

Atnafu Lambebo Tonja, Israel Abebe Azime, Tadesse Destaw Belay, Mesay G. Yigezu, Moges Ahmed Mehamed, Abinew Ali Ayele, Ebrahim Chekol Jibril, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Olga Kolesnikova, Philipp Slusallek, Dietrich Klakow, Seid Muhie Yimam | LREC-COLING | 2024

Introduces EthioLLM and benchmark-based evaluation for Ethiopian languages, expanding multilingual LLM research for low-resource settings.

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Ethio-Fake: Cutting-Edge Approaches to Combat Fake News in Under-Resourced Languages Using Explainable AI

Mesay G. Yigezu, Melkamu Abay Mersha, Girma Yohannis Bade, Jugal Kalita, Olga Kolesnikova, Alexander F. Gelbukh | Procedia Computer Science (ACLing) | 2024

Proposes explainable AI methods for fake news detection in under-resourced languages, integrating content and social context features.

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Semantic-Driven Topic Modeling Using Transformer-Based Embeddings and Clustering Algorithms

Melkamu Abay Mersha, Mesay G. Yigezu, Jugal Kalita | Procedia Computer Science (ACLing) | 2024

Presents a semantic-driven topic modeling approach that combines transformer embeddings with clustering to improve topic coherence.

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Extractive Text Summarization for Wolaytta Language Using Recurrent Neural Network

Eyobed Birhanu Paulos, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Biniyam Sime Dana, Seiyfedin Mohammed Yesuf, Mesay G. Yigezu | ICT4DA | 2024

Develops an extractive summarization approach for Wolaytta using recurrent neural networks, supporting NLP for Ethiopian languages.

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Design and Develop Automatic Parts of Speech Tagger for Siltigna Language

Biniyam Sime Dana, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Seiyfedin Mohammed Yesuf, Eyobed Birhanu Paulos, Mesay G. Yigezu | ICT4DA | 2024

Presents an automatic part-of-speech tagging system for Siltigna, contributing foundational NLP resources for a low-resource Ethiopian language.

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MasakhaNEWS: News Topic Classification for African Languages

Teshome Mulugeta Ababu, Saheed Abdullahi Salahudeen, Mesay G. Yigezu, et al. | IJCNLP-AACL | 2023

Introduces MasakhaNEWS, a multilingual news topic classification benchmark for African languages.

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Multilingual Hope Speech Detection using Machine Learning

Mesay G. Yigezu, Girma Yohannis Bade, Olga Kolesnikova, Grigori Sidorov, Alexander Gelbukh | IberLEF 2023 | 2023

Applies machine learning techniques to multilingual hope speech detection, focusing on English and Spanish social media data.

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Transformer-Based Hate Speech Detection for Multi-Class and Multi-Label Classification

Mesay G. Yigezu, Olga Kolesnikova, Grigori Sidorov, Alexander Gelbukh | IberLEF 2023 | 2023

Investigates transformer-based hate speech detection for both multi-class and multi-label classification settings.

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Habesha@DravidianLangTech: Utilizing Deep and Transfer Learning Approaches for Sentiment Analysis

Mesay G. Yigezu, Tadesse Kebede, Olga Kolesnikova, Grigori Sidorov, Alexander Gelbukh | DravidianLangTech | 2023

Explores deep learning and transfer learning methods for sentiment analysis in Dravidian language shared-task settings.

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Habesha@DravidianLangTech: Abusive Comment Detection using Deep Learning Approach

Mesay G. Yigezu, Selam Kanta, Olga Kolesnikova, Grigori Sidorov, Alexander Gelbukh | DravidianLangTech | 2023

Presents a deep learning system for abusive comment detection in shared-task settings for Dravidian languages.

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Hybrid Features in Fake News Detection on Social Media

Mesay G. Yigezu, Moges Ahmed Mehamed, Olga Kolesnikova, Tadesse Kebede Guge, Alexander F. Gelbukh, Grigori Sidorov | ICT4DA | 2023

Examines hybrid features for fake news detection on social media, combining multiple information sources to improve classification.

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Word Level Language Identification in Code-mixed Kannada-English Texts Using Traditional Machine Learning Algorithms

Moein Shahiki Tash, Zahra Ahani, Atnafu Lambebo Tonja, Mesay G. Yigezu, et al. | ICON Shared Task | 2022

Studies traditional machine learning approaches for word-level language identification in code-mixed Kannada-English text.

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Word Level Language Identification in Code-mixed Kannada-English Texts using Deep Learning Approach

Mesay G. Yigezu, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Atnafu Lambebo Tonja | ICON Shared Task | 2022

Proposes a deep learning approach for word-level language identification in code-mixed Kannada-English texts.

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Early Ginger Disease Detection Using Deep Learning Approach

Mesay G. Yigezu, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Atnafu Lambebo Tonja | ICAST | 2022

Applies deep learning to early ginger disease detection, demonstrating practical computer vision methods for agriculture.

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A Parallel Corpora for bi-directional Neural Machine Translation for Low Resourced Ethiopian Languages

Atnafu Lambebo Tonja, Michael Melese Woldeyohannis, Mesay G. Yigezu | ICT4DA | 2021

Introduces a parallel corpus for bidirectional neural machine translation involving low-resourced Ethiopian languages.

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