{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","research_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_light_screen_20260805","cell_id":"anchoring_reset__accounting_auditing","search_lanes":{"direct_problem_and_intervention":{"queries":["doré inventory valuation prior lot fineness fire assay audit representative sampling","doré bars inventory accounting representative assay sampling fineness","auditor anchoring client estimate experimental study accounting audit judgment anchoring"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC4"],"no_result_note":"No retained source directly documents the exact fact pattern of a refinery copying a prior lot's 0.920 fineness into current-lot period-end inventory."},"synonyms_and_historical_terms":{"queries":["gold bullion doré bar drill sampling composite fire assay cupellation standard","bullion sampling gold bars drill sampling fire assay cupellation","auditors anchoring management estimate prior year values experiment primary research"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3"],"no_result_note":null},"products_practices_and_standards":{"queries":["LBMA sampling assaying gold bars drillings fire assay reference materials","ISO gold cupellation homogeneous sample fineness standard","PCAOB audit evidence independent source inventory valuation"],"source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":null},"component_combination":{"queries":["multi bar doré composite sample duplicate fire assay certified reference material","blind coded duplicate fire assay gold composite sample audit evidence","representative gold sample homogenize duplicate assay calibration independent assayer"],"source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"],"no_result_note":"The retained sources disclose the assay, quality-control, audit-evidence, and pre-anchor-estimation components, but not the proposal's complete single-lot sequence in one source."}},"sources":[{"source_id":"SRC1","title":"How Does an Initial Expectation Bias Influence Auditors' Application and Performance of Analytical Procedures?","publisher":"American Accounting Association; repository record from University of St. Thomas","url":"https://researchonline.stthomas.edu/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/How-Does-an-Initial-Expectation-Bias/991015132144103691","source_type":"PRIMARY_RESEARCH","claims_supported":["An experiment found that knowledge of unaudited client balances biased auditors toward hypotheses supporting the client's balance.","Auditors who formed expectations without current-year figures considered competing explanations more readily and were significantly more likely to detect a material misstatement.","Producing an expectation before exposure to a client-supplied number is established adjacent prior art for reducing initial-expectation bias in analytical procedures."]},{"source_id":"SRC2","title":"Chapter 4 - Sampling and Assaying","publisher":"London Bullion Market Association","url":"https://www.lbma.org.uk/publications/spotlight-on-north-american-gold-silver-refining/chapter-4-sampling-and-assaying","source_type":"OFFICIAL_GUIDANCE","claims_supported":["Independent sampling and assay services are routinely used for doré and other precious-metal materials where accurate composition affects settlement and valuation.","Sample grinding or melting to obtain homogeneity is described as crucial to accurate assay results.","Fire assay separates gold from impurities and weighs the resulting precious metal; it is a preferred high-accuracy method for doré bars.","Reference materials, duplicate assays, and regular equipment calibration are identified as routine assay quality controls.","XRF is nondestructive and rapid, whereas fire assay supplies the more directly relevant destructive composition reference."]},{"source_id":"SRC3","title":"ISO 11426:2021 Jewellery and precious metals — Determination of gold — Cupellation method (fire assay)","publisher":"International Organization for Standardization","url":"https://www.iso.org/cms/%20render/live/en/sites/isoorg/contents/data/standard/07/57/75771.html?browse=tc","source_type":"OFFICIAL_STANDARD","claims_supported":["ISO 11426 specifies cupellation fire assay for determining gold in material considered homogeneous.","The standard's stated preferred range includes a fineness of 0.920 by mass.","The standard supports the chemical-measurement core but makes sample homogeneity a material precondition rather than establishing that a drilling pattern represents a heterogeneous lot."]},{"source_id":"SRC4","title":"AS 1105: Audit Evidence","publisher":"Public Company Accounting Oversight Board","url":"https://pcaobus.org/oversight/standards/auditing-standards/details/AS1105","source_type":"OFFICIAL_STANDARD","claims_supported":["Auditors must obtain sufficient appropriate evidence, including evidence that contradicts management assertions.","Evidence from an independent knowledgeable source and evidence obtained directly by the auditor are generally more reliable than internally supplied or indirect evidence.","Valuation or allocation is an explicit financial-statement assertion.","Audit-procedure relevance depends on design, timing, and necessary disaggregation or detail.","Results from specifically selected items cannot be projected to the entire population, supporting the proposal's bounded-lot limitation.","When evidence conflicts or its reliability is doubtful, the auditor must perform procedures necessary to resolve the matter."]}],"problem_evidence":{"status":"PARTLY_SUPPORTED","finding":"The problem mechanism is visible in adjacent evidence: primary research shows that seeing an unaudited client balance can bias auditors' expectations and reduce material-misstatement detection, while precious-metal guidance establishes that accurate doré valuation depends on representative, homogeneous sampling and assay. Audit standards also require reliable evidence for valuation assertions. However, the exact operational allegation—a current doré lot valued using a copied 0.920 prior-lot factor without representative measurement—was not directly documented in the bounded search.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC4"]},"closest_prior_art":[{"name":"Independent homogeneous-sample fire assay with duplicate and reference-material quality controls","source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3"],"overlap":"Covers independent assayers, homogenizing sample material, fire-assay separation, gravimetric determination, duplicate assays, reference materials, and calibration—the proposal's principal physical measurement chain.","remaining_difference":"The sources do not specify a mass-capped, fixed-location composite drilled across selected bars of one accounting lot, coded before disclosure of a prior-lot ledger factor, and compared with that factor only after completion."},{"name":"Expectation formation without exposure to the client's unaudited balance","source_ids":["SRC1"],"overlap":"Directly tests the proposal's cognitive premise and supports forming an independent expectation before seeing a client-provided numerical anchor.","remaining_difference":"The experiment concerns analytical procedures generally, not precious-metal composition, destructive sampling, or an assay-derived inventory reference."},{"name":"PCAOB direct and independent audit-evidence framework","source_ids":["SRC4"],"overlap":"Supports direct testing of valuation assertions, greater reliability of independent evidence, evaluation of contradictory evidence, and restrictions on projecting selected-item results.","remaining_difference":"It does not prescribe doré sampling, fire assay, blinding, or an anchoring-reset protocol."}],"prior_art_disposition":"ADJACENT_PRIOR_ART","contrastive_claim_remaining":"For one authorized doré lot, a prespecified multi-bar drilling pattern followed by homogenization, coded duplicate cupellation assays, reference-material and blank controls, and delayed comparison with the ledger factor will yield a quality-controlled fineness interval that is independent of 0.920 and will expose a decision-relevant discrepancy more reliably than spreadsheet reperformance, checklist review, or one convenience shaving. The individual measurement and pre-anchor components are established; the narrow remaining claim is their combined application and comparative performance in this period-end inventory setting.","contrastive_claim_falsifier":"The claim would be falsified if the prespecified composite fails to agree within declared uncertainty with a retained-split rerun or authorized full-lot homogenized reference despite passing controls, or if a controlled comparison shows that the combined protocol does not improve discrepancy detection or uncertainty calibration relative to a single convenience shaving or ordinary review. Discovery of an established practice already using the same multi-bar, coded, pre-anchor, duplicate-assay sequence for doré inventory would also defeat the claimed contrast from prior art.","gates":{"adequate_source_search":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The bounded search covered the direct scenario, older and synonymous assay terminology, products and standards, auditing requirements, anchoring research, and combinations of sampling, homogenization, duplication, calibration, independence, and pre-exposure estimation. Exactly four opened sources from four institutional or publication contexts were retained.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"supported_problem":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"Although the exact 0.920 refinery incident was not found, the two necessary problem components are supported: auditors can be biased by client-supplied unaudited balances, and representative physical assay is important for reliable precious-metal composition and valuation evidence.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC4"]},"distinct_testable_claim":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"The remaining claim is narrower than the established components and can be tested by prespecifying the sampling pattern and acceptance limits, comparing assay results with the inherited factor, and benchmarking against a retained split, full-lot reference, or rival review methods.","source_ids":["SRC1","SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"bounded_next_test":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"A single identified lot, fixed sampling mass, duplicate charges, blank, reference material, retained split, and prohibition on extrapolation or immediate ledger change form a bounded feasibility test. The sources support assay quality controls and the rule that selected-item results cannot automatically be projected beyond their tested population.","source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]},"no_obvious_safety_or_authority_stop":{"status":"PASS","rationale":"No categorical stop is apparent if destructive sampling is authorized by the plant manager, qualified laboratories control drilling, furnaces, lead-bearing materials, and waste, and the audit partner and controller retain their respective evidence and accounting authority. Established professional use of fire assay supports feasibility, but local occupational, environmental, custody, and audit-independence requirements remain mandatory.","source_ids":["SRC2","SRC3","SRC4"]}},"screen_survival":true,"world_novelty_boundary":"This bounded public-web screen found established component practices and adjacent combinations, but it cannot establish world novelty, patentability, freedom to operate, market size, expert acceptance, or realized operational or financial value."}