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    "description": "A mathematical theory of communication and uncertainty. Shannon information concerns the selection and transmission of possibilities under probability and noise; it does not by itself supply semantic meaning or value.",
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    "canonical_definition": "The mathematical study of the quantification, coding and reliable transmission of uncertainty-bearing signals, including entropy, channel capacity, redundancy and noise.",
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    "why_it_matters": "Systems and cybernetics use information in several senses. Confusing Shannon information with meaning, truth, knowledge or value produces category errors. The mathematical theory can tell us how much uncertainty is reduced, not whether the message is wise, accurate or humane.",
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      "information quantity vs semantic meaning",
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      "channel capacity vs organisational capacity",
      "data availability vs usable information"
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      "coding and decoding distinctions"
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      "ask what uncertainty is reduced for which decision",
      "separate data transmission from interpretation",
      "measure the channel as well as the message",
      "notice what the classification scheme makes invisible"
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      "object_id": "concept_information_theory",
      "status": "provisional",
      "supporting_source_ids": [
        "src_ieee_feedforward_topic"
      ],
      "supporting_evidence_ids": [
        "ev_ieee_feedforward"
      ],
      "contradicting_source_ids": [],
      "contradicting_evidence_ids": [],
      "notes": "The object is a placeholder for informational/model dependence, not a claim that Shannon information theory is always required.",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "reviewed_by": "",
      "reviewed_at": ""
    },
    {
      "id": "claim_v03_information_not_semantics",
      "statement": "Shannon information quantifies uncertainty and communication possibilities; it does not by itself determine semantic meaning, truth or value.",
      "subject_id": "concept_information_theory",
      "predicate": "distinguishes",
      "object_id": "",
      "status": "corroborated",
      "supporting_source_ids": [
        "src_shannon_communication_1948"
      ],
      "supporting_evidence_ids": [
        "ev_shannon_information_theory"
      ],
      "contradicting_source_ids": [],
      "contradicting_evidence_ids": [],
      "notes": "A central guard against importing everyday senses of information into the mathematical theory.",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "reviewed_by": "",
      "reviewed_at": ""
    },
    {
      "id": "claim35_e35_variety_information_theory",
      "statement": "Ashby derives a requisite-variety bound using conditional entropies; this mathematical formulation does not measure semantic meaning.",
      "subject_id": "law_or_principle_law_of_requisite_variety",
      "predicate": "uses_in_argument",
      "object_id": "concept_information_theory",
      "status": "candidate",
      "supporting_source_ids": [
        "src_ashby_intro_cybernetics_1956"
      ],
      "supporting_evidence_ids": [
        "ev35_edge_e35_variety_information_theory_1"
      ],
      "contradicting_source_ids": [],
      "contradicting_evidence_ids": [],
      "notes": "Primary-source exposition; editorial acceptance open",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "reviewed_by": "",
      "reviewed_at": "",
      "connection_pass": "depth_20261029"
    },
    {
      "id": "claim35_e_v03_information_theory_information",
      "statement": "Shannon formalises message selection and uncertainty while bracketing semantics. This edge concerns that mathematical sense, not a formal derivation of Bateson's account of consequential differences.",
      "subject_id": "concept_information_theory",
      "predicate": "formalises",
      "object_id": "concept_information",
      "status": "candidate",
      "supporting_source_ids": [
        "src_shannon_communication_1948",
        "src_u35_bateson_steps_1987"
      ],
      "supporting_evidence_ids": [
        "ev35_edge_e_v03_information_theory_information_1",
        "ev35_edge_e_v03_information_theory_information_2"
      ],
      "contradicting_source_ids": [],
      "contradicting_evidence_ids": [],
      "notes": "Primary-source exposition; editorial acceptance open",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "reviewed_by": "",
      "reviewed_at": "",
      "connection_pass": "depth_20261029"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "src_complexity_explorer_intro",
      "title": "Introduction to Complexity (Santa Fe Institute Complexity Explorer)",
      "source_type": "research_institute_course",
      "quality_tier": "B",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://www.complexityexplorer.org/courses/185-introduction-to-complexity",
      "date": "2026-08-09",
      "notes": "Official ten-unit syllabus covering dynamics, chaos, information, self-organisation, agent-based modelling, networks and scaling. Used for curriculum coverage, not proof that the curriculum exhausts complexity science.",
      "creators": [],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Santa Fe Institute Complexity Explorer",
      "licence": "",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "checked_internal_syllabus",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-14",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_shannon_communication_1948",
      "title": "A Mathematical Theory of Communication",
      "source_type": "primary_text",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x",
      "date": "1948",
      "notes": "Primary text opened and inspected; reprint header identifies the original 1948 publication. This locator uses the corrected reprint's pagination. The engineering model expressly brackets semantic aspects.",
      "creators": [
        "Claude E. Shannon"
      ],
      "doi": "10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Bell System Technical Journal 27, 379–423 and 623–656",
      "licence": "publisher_terms",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "passage_checked_research_pass",
      "last_checked": "2026-10-29",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "reading_url": "https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf",
      "connection_pass": "depth_20261029",
      "source_locator": "Introduction, corrected reprint PDF p. 1",
      "access_note": "This locator uses the corrected reprint's pagination. The engineering model expressly brackets semantic aspects."
    },
    {
      "id": "src_damian_lineage_diagram_2026",
      "title": "Lineages of Systems Practice — Damian Allen",
      "source_type": "private_practitioner_lineage_diagram",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "private",
      "url": "",
      "date": "2026-05",
      "notes": "Authorized private research source. Public metadata is paraphrased; message identifiers, addresses, private URLs and unnecessary extracts are omitted. This is a first-person lineage claim, not independent proof of influence.",
      "creators": [
        "Damian Allen"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "",
      "licence": "",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "checked_for_doncaster_lineage",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-15",
      "public_link_status": "no_public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_wiener_cybernetics_1948",
      "title": "Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine",
      "source_type": "primary_book",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262537841/cybernetics-or-control-and-communication-in-the-animal-and-the-machine/",
      "date": "1948-01-01",
      "notes": "Norbert Wiener's foundational synthesis, first published in 1948. The MIT Press open-access reissue describes feedback and information as central to the field. Exact chapter-level use remains a next editorial check.",
      "creators": [
        "Norbert Wiener"
      ],
      "doi": "10.7551/mitpress/11810.001.0001",
      "isbn": "9780262537841",
      "publisher": "The MIT Press",
      "licence": "CC BY-NC-ND for the open-access reissue",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-09",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_ashby_intro_cybernetics_1956",
      "title": "An Introduction to Cybernetics",
      "source_type": "primary_text",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://ashby.info/Ashby-Introduction-to-Cybernetics.pdf",
      "date": "1956",
      "notes": "Primary text opened and inspected. Title page identifies the 1957 second impression of the 1956 book. Use section numbers as the stable locator: the electronic PDF places two printed pages on each PDF page. Rights statement permits educational and research distribution with its notice; this packet links and paraphrases.",
      "creators": [
        "W. Ross Ashby"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Chapman & Hall",
      "licence": "archive_access_check_reuse",
      "archived_url": "https://www.ashby.info/",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "passage_checked_research_pass",
      "last_checked": "2026-10-29",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "depth_20261029",
      "source_locator": "1957 second impression; sections 11/5–11/11, printed pp. 205–209; PDF pp. 109–111",
      "access_note": "Use section numbers as the stable locator: the electronic PDF places two printed pages on each PDF page. Rights statement permits educational and research distribution with its notice; this packet links and paraphrases."
    },
    {
      "id": "src_fpcs_official_toc",
      "title": "Foundational Papers in Complexity Science — official tables of contents",
      "source_type": "publisher_table_of_contents",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://www.foundationalpapersincomplexityscience.org/tables-of-contents",
      "date": "2024",
      "notes": "Official item-level contents for the four-volume Santa Fe Institute Press collection. It supports the bibliographic inventory, not the substantive claims of all 89 original papers.",
      "creators": [
        "Santa Fe Institute Press",
        "David C. Krakauer (editor)"
      ],
      "publisher": "Santa Fe Institute Press",
      "licence": "source_terms",
      "review_status": "checked_primary_register",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-09",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": ""
    },
    {
      "id": "src_u35_bateson_steps_1987",
      "title": "Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1987 reprint)",
      "source_type": "primary_text",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://ejcj.orfaleacenter.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/1972.-Gregory-Bateson-Steps-to-an-Ecology-of-Mind.pdf",
      "date": "1987",
      "notes": "Primary book opened and inspected. Copyright and catalogue pages identify the 1987 reprint, despite the filename beginning 1972. Do not reuse these page numbers for the Chicago edition without checking. Copyright retained; link and brief paraphrases only. Existing book node publication_steps_to_ecology_of_mind is reused.",
      "creators": [
        "Gregory Bateson"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Jason Aronson; original collection published by Chandler in 1972",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "passage_checked_research_pass",
      "last_checked": "2026-10-29",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "depth_20261029",
      "source_locator": "The Logical Categories of Learning and Communication: printed pp. 297–299 and 305–307 (PDF pp. 311–313 and 319–321); Form, Substance, and Difference: printed pp. 459–460 (PDF pp. 473–474)",
      "access_note": "Do not reuse these page numbers for the Chicago edition without checking. Copyright retained; link and brief paraphrases only. Existing book node publication_steps_to_ecology_of_mind is reused."
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sysbok_feedback_2013",
      "title": "SCiO SysBoK - Feedback v1",
      "source_type": "legacy_map_presentation",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "no_public_link",
      "url": "",
      "date": "2013-04-01",
      "notes": "Legacy SCiO SysBoK working presentation; no public link.",
      "creators": [
        "SCiO"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "",
      "licence": "",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "pass4_legacy_internal_register_audit",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-14",
      "public_link_status": "no_public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_damian_correspondence_2026",
      "title": "Damian Allen follow-up correspondence on lineage and UTSI",
      "source_type": "private_correspondence",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "private",
      "url": "",
      "date": "2026-05 and 2026-08",
      "notes": "Authorized private research source. Public metadata is paraphrased; message identifiers, addresses, private URLs and unnecessary extracts are omitted. Unpublished theoretical claims remain provisional.",
      "creators": [
        "Damian Allen"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "",
      "licence": "",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "checked_for_doncaster_lineage",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-15",
      "public_link_status": "no_public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_fano_tr65_1949",
      "title": "The Transmission of Information, Technical Report No. 65",
      "source_type": "primary_research_report",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://hcs64.com/files/fano-tr65-ocr.pdf",
      "date": "1949-03-17",
      "notes": "Primary report inspected: title page, abstract, introduction, and sections I–III. 17 March 1949. Public mirror of the MIT report. TR 149 is mentioned by the reading list but was not inspected.",
      "creators": [
        "Robert M. Fano"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "passage_checked",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-05",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_shannon_weaver_book_1949",
      "title": "The Mathematical Theory of Communication — 1949 volume",
      "source_type": "primary_book",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://ia801403.us.archive.org/25/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.503815/2015.503815.The-Mathematical_text.pdf",
      "date": "1949",
      "notes": "Inspected preface, contents, Shannon introduction pp. 3–5, and Weaver pp. 95–99. The volume contains separately attributed papers, with distinct technical and wider questions.",
      "creators": [
        "Claude E. Shannon",
        "Warren Weaver"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "University of Illinois Press",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "passage_checked",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-05",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_f455a61e7d99311f",
      "title": "Designing Social Systems in a Changing World",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9981-1",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "Bela H. Banathy"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Springer US",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "1996"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_3aa8abc76eea9942",
      "title": "Improving the Systems Thinking Skills of the Systems Architect via Aesthetic Interpretation of Art",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2017.00432.x",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "Tom McDermott",
        "Alejandro Salado"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Wiley",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "2017"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_a24718379b3ee4d2",
      "title": "Presencing the Future of Democracy and Governance",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.47061/jasc.v6i1.13060",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "Oliver Koenig",
        "Eva Pomeroy",
        "Megan Seneque",
        "Otto Scharmer"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Presencing Institute, Inc.",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "2026"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_2b9130787f8b4a27",
      "title": "Quantifying the Complexity of Socio-technical Systems – A Generic, Interdisciplinary Approach",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.03.019",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "Florian Schöttl",
        "Udo Lindemann"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "Elsevier BV",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "2015"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_a0ef22f6c6480521",
      "title": "An ecology of bad ideas: approaching human relations with wider nature from an ecological-complexity perspective",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.38140/aa.v56i2.8974",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "Emma Hay"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "University of the Free State",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "2024"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_sp26_0e747613ce24f8a7",
      "title": "Minimal entropy production rate of interacting systems",
      "source_type": "public_catalogue_record",
      "quality_tier": "C",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abc5c6",
      "date": "2026-09-19",
      "notes": "Opening title and DOI; Crossref publisher metadata. Bibliographic identity matched; source text indexed. Identity and located teaching relationships are separated from automatic title matches and exact text mentions. A term appearing in a source is not proof of its definition, endorsement, influence, or logical dependence.",
      "creators": [
        "David H Wolpert"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "IOP Publishing",
      "licence": "source terms unless otherwise stated",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "located_public_record",
      "last_checked": "2026-09-19",
      "public_link_status": "public_link",
      "connection_pass": "library_20260919",
      "year": "2020"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_bateson_steps_ecology_1972",
      "title": "Steps to an Ecology of Mind",
      "source_type": "primary_book",
      "quality_tier": "A",
      "access": "public_metadata",
      "url": "https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3620295.html",
      "date": "1972-01-01",
      "notes": "Gregory Bateson's collected essays spanning cybernetic explanation, learning, communication, conscious purpose, ecology and form.",
      "creators": [
        "Gregory Bateson"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "University of Chicago Press",
      "licence": "publisher_terms",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-09",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    },
    {
      "id": "src_ieee_feedforward_topic",
      "title": "Feedforward systems - IEEE Technology Navigator",
      "source_type": "professional_technical_reference",
      "quality_tier": "B",
      "access": "public",
      "url": "https://technav.ieee.org/topic/feedforward-systems/",
      "date": "2026-08-09",
      "notes": "Technical overview of feedforward architectures, anticipatory disturbance response and dependence on models or disturbance measurement.",
      "creators": [
        "IEEE Technology Navigator"
      ],
      "doi": "",
      "isbn": "",
      "publisher": "IEEE",
      "licence": "site_terms",
      "archived_url": "",
      "content_hash": "",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor",
      "last_checked": "2026-08-09",
      "public_link_status": "public_link"
    }
  ],
  "evidence_locators": [
    {
      "id": "ev_shannon_information_theory",
      "source_id": "src_shannon_communication_1948",
      "locator": "Bell System Technical Journal 27, pp. 379-423 and 623-656",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev_wiener_feedback_cybernetics",
      "source_id": "src_wiener_cybernetics_1948",
      "locator": "MIT Press edition description and open-access edition; exact chapter locator pending",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev_ashby_variety_definition",
      "source_id": "src_ashby_intro_cybernetics_1956",
      "locator": "chapters 7–8; official archive bibliography entry 56",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev35_edge_e_v03_information_theory_information_1",
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      "locator": "Shannon, Introduction, corrected reprint PDF p. 1; Bateson, Form, Substance, and Difference, printed pp. 459–460",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev35_edge_e_v03_information_theory_information_2",
      "source_id": "src_u35_bateson_steps_1987",
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      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev35_edge_e35_variety_information_theory_1",
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      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev_bateson_steps_scope",
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      "locator": "publisher description and table of contents, Parts III-V",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    },
    {
      "id": "ev_ieee_feedforward",
      "source_id": "src_ieee_feedforward_topic",
      "locator": "Section: What Are Feedforward Systems?",
      "review_status": "research_pass_needs_editor"
    }
  ],
  "reuse_note": "Preserve source attribution, scope, and review status. Source documents and evidence excerpts are excluded."
}