Deontic Modeling and Natural Language Processing for Automated Environmental and Green Compliance Checking

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This grant provides funding for the development of a computational approach for checking the compliance of textual construction plans (such as storm-water pollution prevention plans) with environmental regulations and contractual requirements. This is intended to automatically detect non-compliance instances and provide a relatively rich analysis of the non-compliance such as which regulation was violated, the reason for the violation, the possible consequences of the violation, etc. To achieve such deep levels of text processing and automated reasoning, three algorithms will be developed and combined into one computational platform: 1) a machine learning-based algorithm for classifying text, 2) a hybrid syntactic-semantic (that utilizes grammatical and meaning-descriptive features of the text) algorithm for information extraction, and 3) a logic-based algorithm for compliance reasoning. The automated analysis will be facilitated by a knowledge model of normative reasoning (deontic model) in the construction domain. The algorithms will be implemented in a proof of concept prototype software. Real life-based test case scenarios will be formulated - in collaboration with construction contractors - and used to test and validate the algorithms developed.If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvements in the area of automated regulatory and contractual compliance checking in construction. The long-term goal of this research is to provide construction industry professionals and regulators with an approach that can help reduce compliance assessment errors, as well as reduce the cost and time associated with compliance checking. The proposed work will also contribute to the computational tools and methodologies available for both deep natural language understanding/processing and semantic reasoning. This project will also involve educational and outreach activities to promote teaching and learning, engage undergraduate and graduate students, and reach out to female high-school students. This includes the development of a project website, course modules, and hands-on outreach material about environmentally-conscious construction.