Keywords:
Transdisciplinary, SHAMROQ, Complexity, Public Policy, Regulatory Compliance
Abstract
In an era marked by significant public policy challenges, including climate change, public health, and economic inequality, traditional bureaucratic or technocratic methods prove increasingly inadequate. These so-called "wicked problems," characterized by their complexity and resistance to simple solutions, require more dynamic, inclusive approaches, that transcend jurisdictional boundaries. Embracing these approaches, we extend SHAMROQ, a novel transdisciplinary approach that combines Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, and Logic to extract, classify, and model deontic expressions from regulatory texts. This mixed-method study examines three CFR titles: Title 16 Commercial Practices, Title 45 Public Welfare, and Title 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations Systems, with an emphasis on the distribution of deontic expressions and identifying challenges in regulatory text. The results, supported by a chi-square test of independence with a highly significant p-value < .001 , show a strong association between deontic expression types and CFR Titles. This research also provides deeper insights into regulatory language complexity by broadening the analysis across CFR Titles 16, 45, and 48. Title 16 features diverse permissions and obligations, reflecting commercial law's complexity. Title 45 uses strict directives like 'must' and 'shall' for public welfare compliance, while Title 48 focuses on obligatory terms for federal acquisition, aligning with procurement demands. Such insights can inform future research and practical applications in regulatory analytics, compliance, and public policy.
Author Biographies
Patrick Cook, Texas Tech University
Mr. Patrick D. Cook, Senior Technical Program Manager at Amazon.com, manages complex, cross-functional programs for Amazon Prime. Bringing a rich 20-year background in software engineering, including pivotal roles at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Corporation, Mr. Cook has been instrumental in advancing technological innovations in both the defense and private sectors. His experience is strengthened by his distinguished military service as a Sergeant First Class (SFC/E7) in the United States Army, where he served with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Gulf War. Mr. Cook holds a BS (2002) and MS in Computer Science (2006) from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Transdisciplinary Design, Process, and Systems, at Texas Tech University. Mr. Cook currently serves as the Publicity Chair for the International Conference on Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering (SEKE) and Secretary of the Multi-Ethnic Committee (MEC) for Garland Independent School District (GISD).
Susan Mengel, Texas Tech University
Dr. Susan Mengel received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1990. She is an Associate professor at Texas Tech University. She has played strategic leadership roles in numerous transdisciplinary projects involving the delivery of innovative software and data models in sleep management, student retention and advising, computer education, nutrition, speech therapy, cardiovascular disease, and cybersecurity. She helped to establish the Master's in Software Engineering degree program at Texas Tech University, served as Associate Editor for Computing for the IEEE Transactions on Education, served on the Steering Committee of the ACM/IEEE Computing Curriculum, and served as the Outreach Chair FY19 of the SWE Outreach Committee. She currently serves on the Texas Tech Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects and is a faculty advisor for the TTU Collegiate Chapter of SWE.
Siva Parameswaran, Texas Tech University
Dr. Siva Parameswaran is a professor and Senior Associate Chair of mechanical engineering at Texas Tech University. While much of his career has been spent as a faculty member at Texas Tech, Dr. Parameswaran has also spent time as a visiting researcher and scientist at various corporations and companies, including Ford Motor Company and NASA Langley Research Center among others. He specializes in computational fluid dynamics and aerodynamics. During his professional career, Dr. Parameswaran has received a Haliburton Outstanding Research Award, has been an Elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and has been a Fulbright Finalist. He has also served as an organizer of multiple educational workshops and sessions and has been an invited speaker at various universities and conferences.
