{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","cell_id":"constraint_propagation_and_decoupling__chemistry_materials","arm":"CONSTRAINED_HIGH","candidate_id":"constraint_propagation_and_decoupling__chemistry_materials__CONSTRAINED_HIGH","decision":"PROPOSAL","abstention_reason":null,"proposal":{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","cell_id":"constraint_propagation_and_decoupling__chemistry_materials","arm":"CONSTRAINED_HIGH","candidate_id":"constraint_propagation_and_decoupling__chemistry_materials__CONSTRAINED_HIGH","proposal_index":1,"version":0,"title":"Passive Self-Pruning Capillary Tree for Irreversible Formulation Incompatibilities","problem":"A formulation chemist developing a four-component waterborne mineral coating—sodium-silicate binder, calcium-rich filler slurry, pigment dispersion, and acid-set hardener—must choose an addition sequence. Some partial mixtures can irreversibly gel or precipitate, but independent one-pot trials reveal each failure only after that sequence has consumed a complete sample and do not automatically exclude every longer sequence containing the same failed prefix.","actors":["Formulation chemist","Laboratory technician","Sodium-silicate binder","Calcium-rich filler slurry","Pigment dispersion","Acid-set hardener","Capillary test card"],"observable_state":"In a transparent prefix-tree card, each shared channel represents a partial mixing sequence. A compatible liquid prefix advances by capillarity; an irreversible gel or precipitate produces an observable opaque or immobile plug and arrests its meniscus. Sibling channels remain isolated. Surviving full sequences enter terminal recomposition wells, where phase separation, flow, gelation, and deposited-coupon cure can be observed under fixed composition and residence-time conditions.","consequence":"Without prefix-level localization, failed sequences can be repeated in multiple longer trials, the responsible contact is ambiguous, and a locally acceptable partial mixture can still fail when all components are recombined.","affected_objective":"Identify addition sequences that preserve processable flow through intermediate states and remain chemically compatible after complete recomposition.","intervention":"Use a disposable, transparent, hydrophilic capillary card whose branching geometry is a physical prefix tree of candidate addition sequences. Metered aliquots enter sequential junctions. Shared prefixes occupy shared upstream channels; alternative next additions occupy hydraulically isolated sibling branches. If a prefix undergoes irreversible precipitation or gelation, the resulting permeability loss passively stops capillary transport before every descendant junction, physically eliminating those longer sequences. Compatible branches continue independently to terminal wells that recombine the prescribed final stoichiometry and cast small cure coupons. Reference channels containing stable liquids distinguish chemical blockage from card or evaporation failure. The method is restricted to chemistries for which failed prefixes are demonstrably irreversible over the test interval.","structural_mapping":[{"archetype_element":"Constraint Network Model","domain_realization":"The capillary prefix tree maps ingredients and addition steps to junctions, with shared upstream channels representing sequences subject to the same chemical compatibility constraint."},{"archetype_element":"Invariant and Gauge Basis","domain_realization":"Every terminal path holds final stoichiometry, dilution, temperature, channel volume, and nominal residence time constant, so addition order is the varied representation while final composition is the protected observable basis."},{"archetype_element":"Propagation Rule Set","domain_realization":"A demonstrated irreversible gel or precipitate at a shared prefix causes permeability loss; because every descendant requires flow through that prefix, the exclusion propagates physically to all descendants."},{"archetype_element":"Derived Implication Register","domain_realization":"The permanent plug location and the wetted-versus-unwetted downstream channels form a direct physical trace of the excluded prefix and its descendants."},{"archetype_element":"Coupling Boundary Map","domain_realization":"Shared trunks mark genuine common-prefix coupling, while sealed sibling channels after a branch point mark sequences that can continue without exchanging material."},{"archetype_element":"Decoupled Subproblem Partition","domain_realization":"Once a compatible prefix reaches a branch point, alternative next-addition branches test locally distinct continuation problems in isolated channels."},{"archetype_element":"Consistency and Recomposition Check","domain_realization":"Surviving paths discharge into terminal wells at the same final composition, where full-mixture stability and cure-coupon behavior test whether local compatibility recomposes successfully."},{"archetype_element":"Propagation Stop Condition","domain_realization":"Propagation ends when a calibrated observation interval shows either meniscus arrest at a reaction plug or arrival at the terminal recomposition well."},{"archetype_element":"Slack or Tolerance Budget","domain_realization":"Parallel inert reference channels and predefined meniscus-position tolerances bound acceptable variation from evaporation, surface wetting, and fabrication resistance."}],"mechanism_mapping":[{"mechanism_slug":"constraint_dependency_matrix","role":"The fixed prefix-tree topology embodies which longer sequences depend on each partial mixture.","counterfactual_removal":"With independent unconnected channels, a failed prefix would no longer physically stop its descendants; each longer sequence would require a separate complete test."},{"mechanism_slug":"domain_reduction_pass","role":"Reaction-induced loss of permeability removes every downstream continuation of an incompatible prefix from the set that can reach a terminal well.","counterfactual_removal":"If gelation or precipitation did not arrest transport, infeasible descendants would continue and the card would not self-prune."},{"mechanism_slug":"cut_set_or_separator_analysis","role":"Shared trunks act as dependency cut sets, and impermeable walls between sibling branches preserve independence after the common prefix.","counterfactual_removal":"Cross-flow between siblings would couple nominally separate continuation tests and make their outcomes uninterpretable."},{"mechanism_slug":"gauge_fixing_choice","role":"Holding final composition and physical exposure conditions constant fixes representational freedom so the tested difference is addition order rather than dose or dilution.","counterfactual_removal":"Different terminal compositions could masquerade as order effects, defeating equivalence between the reduced paths and the original formulation question."},{"mechanism_slug":"recomposition_consistency_test","role":"Terminal wells combine all prescribed components and expose failures that appear only in the complete formulation.","counterfactual_removal":"The card could identify locally flowable prefixes but could not establish that their continuation yields a globally compatible mixture."}],"causal_chain":["Metered ingredients enter a transparent capillary network whose shared channels encode shared mixing prefixes.","Capillary pressure transports each partial mixture toward its next ingredient junction without active control.","Chemical contact at a junction either preserves a mobile dispersion or forms an irreversible gel or precipitate.","An irreversible reaction product reduces channel permeability and arrests the meniscus at the failed prefix.","Because descendant paths share that upstream channel, the arrested prefix physically prevents all of them from receiving material.","Hydraulically isolated sibling branches remain available, separating continuation tests not dependent on the failed prefix.","Mobile surviving paths reach terminal wells and are recombined at fixed final stoichiometry.","Terminal mixture state and cure-coupon behavior reveal whether the locally feasible paths satisfy the original whole-formulation constraints."],"baseline":"Prepare every candidate addition sequence independently in small vials, then inspect viscosity, precipitation, phase separation, and cure. This directly tests each sequence but does not share evidence across common prefixes or physically prevent redundant descendant trials.","nearest_rivals":["A conventional multiwell sequential-addition screen tests the same chemistry with flexible sampling and established labware, but each well remains an independent full path rather than a physically propagated prefix exclusion.","Droplet-microfluidic combinatorial screening can test many isolated formulations and may control dose precisely, but ordinary isolated droplets do not make one failed shared prefix hydraulically eliminate all dependent continuations.","Bulk rheometry or turbidity measurements provide richer quantitative characterization of prepared mixtures, but they characterize specimens after mixing rather than embodying prefix dependency, branch isolation, and terminal recomposition in one passive instrument.","A static ingredient-compatibility chart is inexpensive and easy to consult, but it does not expose the actual materials to sequence-dependent reaction conditions or test full recomposition."],"remaining_contrastive_claim":"For formulation failures that are irreversible and monotonic over the observation interval, a shared-prefix capillary tree should convert the failed chemical event itself into physical exclusion of all dependent addition sequences while leaving unrelated siblings testable and requiring surviving paths to pass a terminal recomposition check; independent-well baselines do not physically couple prefix evidence to descendant elimination.","authority_safety":{"decision_authority":"A materials-science principal investigator or designated laboratory supervisor, with the laboratory safety officer controlling permitted reagents and containment.","authorized_first_step":"Run one benchtop comparison card containing no more than sixteen paths and less than ten milliliters total formulation, using existing hood, splash, and waste controls approved for the selected silicate, filler, pigment, and hardener.","excluded_actions":["Production-scale formulation changes","Pressurizing or heating the card","Testing unknown gas-evolving or acutely toxic combinations","Connecting the card to a production vessel","Treating card survival as evidence of coating performance, end-use safety, or regulatory suitability","Automatically discarding formulation families without confirmation in conventional microvials"],"halt_rollback":"Stop on leakage, unexpected heating, gas generation, delamination, or cross-channel flow; place the intact card in compatible secondary containment and dispose of or neutralize its contents under the laboratory's existing chemical-waste procedure. The trial changes no production process and is rolled back by discontinuing the disposable card."},"negative_tests":{"strongest_counterevidence":"A prefix that plugs the card is repeatedly rescued by a later ingredient in matched vial tests, or card plugs occur while the same partial mixtures remain mobile in vials; either result breaks the monotonic constraint-propagation premise.","problem_falsifier":"Matched sequential vial trials show no reproducible prefix-dependent gelation, precipitation, or late recomposition failure under controlled composition and residence time, so there is no coupled constraint structure for the card to reduce.","intervention_falsifier":"In a blinded comparison, the card cannot reproduce vial classifications of mobile versus irreversibly failed prefixes, descendant arrest occurs without prefix failure, sibling branches contaminate one another, or terminal wells fail to reproduce complete-mixture outcomes.","risks":["Capillary confinement, wall adsorption, or surface charge may create failures absent from bulk mixing.","Viscosity alone may arrest flow and be mistaken for irreversible chemical incompatibility.","A later ingredient may redissolve or redisperse a failed prefix, invalidating descendant pruning.","Unequal residence time, evaporation, or channel resistance may confound addition-order comparisons.","Small-volume behavior may not transfer to larger mixing vessels with different shear and heat transfer.","Acidic and alkaline ingredients can leak or contact operators if containment fails.","A plug in a shared trunk could falsely exclude several viable descendants."]},"next_evidence_step":"Fabricate or obtain one sixteen-path transparent card and pre-register eight candidate addition sequences plus duplicates. Test the same metered prefixes and final mixtures in conventional microvials under matched temperature and observation time. Blindly classify prefix mobility, plug location, descendant arrest, terminal phase state, and cure-coupon integrity. Advance only if reference channels remain open, sibling isolation is intact, card prefix classifications agree with their matched vials except within a predeclared tolerance, and every propagated exclusion is supported by an irreversible vial failure that cannot be rescued by the remaining ingredient additions during the test interval.","prior_art_status":"UNSEARCHED","diversity_from_prior_proposals":"Not assessed against other experiment proposals because runtime isolation forbids inspecting them; within this record, the candidate is specifically a passive chemical microfluidic measurement instrument whose reaction-induced plugs perform physical dependency propagation and pruning.","revision_record":{"parent_version":null,"progress_targets_addressed":["Construct one substrate-compliant chemistry/materials candidate","Preserve propagation, justified partitioning, and recomposition structure","Make counterfactual independence from software and governance explicit","Bound the initial evidence step and state decisive falsifiers"],"conceptual_changes":[],"operational_changes":[],"evidence_changes":[],"claim_changes":[]},"substrate_contract":{"primary_allowed_process":"MEASUREMENT_INSTRUMENTATION","counterfactual_independence":"After aliquots are loaded, the essential effect survives removal of software, algorithms, reporting, incentives, authorization rules, and procedural enforcement. Capillary pressure moves the liquids; chemical gelation or precipitation changes permeability; the resulting hydraulic arrest prevents material from entering descendant paths; impermeable walls isolate siblings; and surviving liquids physically meet in terminal wells. Observation records the result but does not cause the pruning or recomposition.","forbidden_channel_audit":"The proposal contains no model, database, dashboard, recommender, information router, or software control loop. No sensor triggers a downstream analytic or human action needed for the effect. Human loading, fixed labels, safety authorization, and visual inspection are support wrappers only. If every label and reporting step were removed after loading, the same reaction plugs would still arrest dependent branches, sibling paths would remain isolated, and surviving materials would still recombine at the terminal wells."}}}