{
    "model": {
        "rank": 4718,
        "code": "thing-q176996",
        "model_id": "vr.tr.polymerase-chain-reaction",
        "name": "polymerase chain reaction",
        "purpose": "Let an agent explain the polymerase chain reaction, relay how it works, its variants and its uses in diagnostics, research and forensics from molecular biology sources, describe the named forms, and distinguish PCR from DNA sequencing, other amplification methods, antigen tests and cloning.",
        "family": "Thing Registry",
        "category": "Activities and processes",
        "status": "research-draft",
        "kind": "thing",
        "plane": "ACT",
        "domain": "ACT.ACT",
        "industry": "",
        "version": "",
        "url": "/models/thing/q176996/",
        "tier": 2,
        "score": 73,
        "payload": {
            "layer": "wikidata",
            "aliases": [
                "real-time polymerase chain reaction",
                "single-cell  qPCR",
                "single-cell PCR",
                "colony-PCR",
                "immuno-PCR",
                "multiplex polymerase chain reaction",
                "Agglutination-PCR",
                "hot start PCR",
                "inverse polymerase chain reaction",
                "Digital polymerase chain reaction",
                "RAPD",
                "multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification",
                "MassTag-PCR",
                "Polymerase chain reaction optimization",
                "touchdown polymerase chain reaction",
                "nested polymerase chain reaction",
                "droplet digital PCR"
            ],
            "aliasCount": 17,
            "merged": 17,
            "knownIn": 73,
            "facets": null,
            "markers": [],
            "lexicalClass": "",
            "senseRank": null,
            "alsoRegisteredAs": null,
            "source": {
                "dataset": "wikidata",
                "item": "Q176996",
                "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q176996",
                "license": "CC0 1.0"
            }
        },
        "research": {
            "vercy": "1.0-draft",
            "publication": {
                "status": "research-draft",
                "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed",
                "publishableCanonical": false,
                "generatedAt": "2026-09-14T03:18:27Z",
                "providers": [
                    "Claude"
                ],
                "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify",
                "pass": 2,
                "wave": 4,
                "engine": "claude"
            },
            "metaModel": {
                "id": "THING-Q176996",
                "registryId": "vr.tr.polymerase-chain-reaction",
                "name": "polymerase chain reaction",
                "version": "0.2.0-wave.4",
                "entryKind": "thing",
                "family": "Thing Registry",
                "domain": [
                    "ACT.ACT"
                ],
                "status": "research-draft"
            },
            "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q176996/",
            "model": {
                "registry_id": "vr.tr.polymerase-chain-reaction",
                "name": "polymerase chain reaction",
                "purpose": "Let an agent explain the polymerase chain reaction, relay how it works, its variants and its uses in diagnostics, research and forensics from molecular biology sources, describe the named forms, and distinguish PCR from DNA sequencing, other amplification methods, antigen tests and cloning.",
                "definition": "A laboratory technique that rapidly makes many copies of a specific DNA sequence by repeated cycles of heating and cooling with a heat-stable polymerase and primers, invented by Kary Mullis in the 1980s and fundamental to molecular biology, diagnostics and forensics, with forms the registry aliases name such as real-time or quantitative PCR, reverse transcription for RNA, single-cell, colony, immuno and multiplex PCR; PCR underlies genetic testing, pathogen detection including some COVID-19 tests, and DNA profiling. Results depend on careful technique to avoid contamination, and clinical results should be interpreted by professionals.",
                "what_it_is_for": "Amplifying specific DNA sequences.",
                "affordances": [
                    "explain how PCR works",
                    "relay variants",
                    "relay uses",
                    "distinguish related methods"
                ],
                "distinguishing_features": [
                    "Amplifies DNA",
                    "Thermal cycling",
                    "Heat-stable polymerase",
                    "Many variants"
                ],
                "appearance": "Not visible directly; performed in thermal cyclers with small tubes of reagents.",
                "visual_identification": [
                    "Technique that amplifies specific DNA",
                    "Real-time PCR, single-cell qPCR, colony-PCR, immuno-PCR, multiplex PCR, reverse transcription PCR",
                    "DNA sequencing reads sequence; other amplification methods differ; antigen tests detect proteins; cloning copies DNA in cells"
                ],
                "physical_properties": [
                    {
                        "quantity": "inventor",
                        "typical_range": "Kary Mullis",
                        "unit": "note",
                        "note": "1980s, Nobel 1993"
                    },
                    {
                        "quantity": "cycle steps",
                        "typical_range": "denature, anneal, extend",
                        "unit": "list",
                        "note": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "quantity": "registry parents",
                        "typical_range": "DNA amplification, nucleic acid test",
                        "unit": "note",
                        "note": ""
                    }
                ],
                "families_and_kinds": [
                    "standard PCR",
                    "quantitative or real-time PCR",
                    "reverse transcription PCR",
                    "multiplex and colony PCR"
                ],
                "related_models": [
                    {
                        "relation": "is a kind of",
                        "target": "nucleic acid amplification",
                        "why": "in registry terms"
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is contrasted with",
                        "target": "DNA sequencing",
                        "why": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is contrasted with",
                        "target": "antigen test",
                        "why": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is used in",
                        "target": "DNA profiling",
                        "why": ""
                    }
                ],
                "identifiers": [],
                "standards_and_regulation": [
                    "Laboratory accreditation and quality standards",
                    "Clinical diagnostic regulations"
                ],
                "failure_modes_and_hazards": [
                    "Contamination causing false results",
                    "Misinterpreting clinical results",
                    "Confusing PCR and antigen tests"
                ],
                "in_scope": [],
                "out_of_scope": [],
                "characteristics": []
            },
            "sources": [],
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "understand",
                        "name": "Understand",
                        "description": "What PCR is.",
                        "rationale": "Science.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "definition",
                                "name": "Definition",
                                "description": "Definition.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "definition-finding",
                                        "name": "Definition",
                                        "description": "Definition.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What is the polymerase chain reaction, and how does it differ from DNA sequencing, other amplification methods, antigen tests and cloning?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is someone interpreting a clinical PCR result, in which case a professional should interpret it?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "variants",
                                "name": "Variants",
                                "description": "Named variants.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "variants-finding",
                                        "name": "Variants",
                                        "description": "Variants.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What are real-time, reverse transcription, single-cell, colony, immuno and multiplex PCR?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits the specific variant?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "method",
                        "name": "Method",
                        "description": "Method.",
                        "rationale": "Science.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "cycles",
                                "name": "Cycles",
                                "description": "Thermal cycling.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "cycles-finding",
                                        "name": "Cycles",
                                        "description": "Cycles.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How do the denature, anneal and extend steps amplify DNA?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which references are standard?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "polymerase",
                                "name": "Polymerase",
                                "description": "Heat-stable polymerase.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "polymerase-finding",
                                        "name": "Polymerase",
                                        "description": "Polymerase.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "Why is a heat-stable polymerase such as Taq essential?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which sources are cited?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "uses",
                        "name": "Uses",
                        "description": "Uses.",
                        "rationale": "Regulation.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "diagnostics",
                                "name": "Diagnostics",
                                "description": "Diagnostics.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "diagnostics-finding",
                                        "name": "Diagnostics",
                                        "description": "Diagnostics.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How is PCR used to detect pathogens, including in some COVID-19 tests?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits nucleic acid test?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "forensics",
                                "name": "Forensics",
                                "description": "Forensics.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "forensics-finding",
                                        "name": "Forensics",
                                        "description": "Forensics.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How is PCR used in DNA profiling?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the information current?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "context",
                        "name": "Context",
                        "description": "Quality.",
                        "rationale": "Regulation.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "contamination",
                                "name": "Contamination",
                                "description": "Contamination control.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "contamination-finding",
                                        "name": "Contamination",
                                        "description": "Contamination.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "Why is contamination control essential in PCR?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the information accurate?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "history",
                                "name": "History",
                                "description": "History.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "history-finding",
                                        "name": "History",
                                        "description": "History.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How did Kary Mullis develop PCR?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits Kary Mullis?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "openQuestions": [
                "Should real-time PCR be a separate entry?",
                "How should clinical interpretation be linked?",
                "How should forensic use be documented?"
            ],
            "statistics": {
                "bundles": 4,
                "layers": 8,
                "findings": 8,
                "questions": 16
            }
        },
        "draft": {
            "generator": "vr.draft.v3",
            "status": "draft-generated",
            "researched": false,
            "archetype": "abstract concept",
            "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.",
            "facetsInferred": true,
            "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.",
            "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a polymerase chain reaction, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.",
            "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain the polymerase chain reaction, relay how it works, its variants and its uses in diagnostics, research and forensics from molecular biology sources, describe the named forms, and distinguish PCR from DNA sequencing, other amplification methods, antigen tests and cloning.",
            "characteristics": {
                "substance": "activity",
                "origin": "conceptual",
                "agency": "inert"
            },
            "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [
                "observed and measured"
            ],
            "distinguishingFeatures": [
                "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: real-time polymerase chain reaction, single-cell  qPCR, single-cell PCR, colony-PCR, immuno-PCR, multiplex polymerase chain reaction, Agglutination-PCR, hot start PCR, inverse polymerase chain reaction, Digital polymerase chain reaction, RAPD, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification.",
                "17 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.",
                "Described in 73 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is."
            ],
            "openQuestionsForResearch": [
                "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?",
                "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?",
                "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a polymerase chain reaction, and on what evidence are they told apart?"
            ],
            "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time",
            "physicalCharacter": [
                "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.",
                "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing."
            ],
            "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [
                "observe it, measure it, record its state"
            ],
            "howItIsRecognised": [
                "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about."
            ],
            "relatedModels": [
                {
                    "relation": "covers",
                    "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.",
                    "targets": [
                        "real-time polymerase chain reaction",
                        "single-cell  qPCR",
                        "single-cell PCR",
                        "colony-PCR",
                        "immuno-PCR",
                        "multiplex polymerase chain reaction",
                        "Agglutination-PCR",
                        "hot start PCR",
                        "inverse polymerase chain reaction",
                        "Digital polymerase chain reaction",
                        "RAPD",
                        "multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification"
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "standing": "Described in 73 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 17 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.",
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "identity-and-classification",
                        "name": "Identity, naming and classification",
                        "description": "How an agent tells one polymerase chain reaction from another, and a polymerase chain reaction from things that resemble it.",
                        "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "naming-and-identifiers",
                                "name": "Names and identifiers",
                                "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases",
                                        "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names",
                                        "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "id": "stable-identifiers",
                                        "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys",
                                        "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "classification-and-granularity",
                                "name": "Classification and granularity",
                                "description": "Where a polymerase chain reaction sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "kind-and-parents",
                                        "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds",
                                        "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "id": "distinguishing-features",
                                        "name": "Distinguishing features",
                                        "description": "What separates a polymerase chain reaction from the things most often confused with it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "state-and-lifecycle",
                        "name": "State and lifecycle",
                        "description": "The states a polymerase chain reaction passes through and the events that move it between them.",
                        "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "lifecycle-stages",
                                "name": "Lifecycle stages",
                                "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "stages-and-transitions",
                                        "name": "Stages and transitions",
                                        "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a polymerase chain reaction between them.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "observations-and-status",
                                "name": "Observations and current status",
                                "description": "What is observed about a polymerase chain reaction, how often and by whom.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "observation-record",
                                        "name": "Observation record",
                                        "description": "How an observation of a polymerase chain reaction is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "process-and-outcome",
                        "name": "Process, inputs and outcome",
                        "description": "How a polymerase chain reaction proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.",
                        "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "steps-and-sequence",
                                "name": "Steps and sequence",
                                "description": "The steps of a polymerase chain reaction, their order and what may run in parallel.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "steps-and-preconditions",
                                        "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion",
                                        "description": "What has to be true before each step of a polymerase chain reaction and what marks it done.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "inputs-and-results",
                                "name": "Inputs, resources and results",
                                "description": "What a polymerase chain reaction consumes and what it produces.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "inputs-and-outputs",
                                        "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects",
                                        "description": "The resources a polymerase chain reaction takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "definitions-in-contest",
                        "name": "Definitions and who holds them",
                        "description": "What polymerase chain reaction is taken to mean, and by whom.",
                        "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "competing-definitions",
                                "name": "Competing definitions",
                                "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "definition-map",
                                        "name": "Definitions and their holders",
                                        "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "definition-map-q01",
                                                "text": "Which definitions of polymerase chain reaction are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "definition-map-q02",
                                                "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "operationalisation",
                                "name": "Operationalisation",
                                "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "operational-record",
                                        "name": "Measures and proxies",
                                        "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "operational-record-q01",
                                                "text": "How is polymerase chain reaction operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?",
                                                "kind": "measurement"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "operational-record-q02",
                                                "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "instances-and-use",
                        "name": "Instances, use and consequence",
                        "description": "What counts as an instance of polymerase chain reaction and what follows from calling something that.",
                        "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "instances",
                                "name": "What counts as an instance",
                                "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "instance-tests",
                                        "name": "Tests for an instance",
                                        "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "instance-tests-q01",
                                                "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of polymerase chain reaction?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "instance-tests-q02",
                                                "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "consequence",
                                "name": "Consequence of application",
                                "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "consequence-record",
                                        "name": "What the label licenses",
                                        "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "consequence-record-q01",
                                                "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as polymerase chain reaction?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "consequence-record-q02",
                                                "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "provenance-and-evidence",
                        "name": "Provenance, evidence and time",
                        "description": "Where every claim about a polymerase chain reaction came from and when it held.",
                        "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "source-and-authority",
                                "name": "Source and authority",
                                "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "claim-provenance",
                                        "name": "Claim provenance and confidence",
                                        "description": "The authority behind each claim about a polymerase chain reaction and how confident it is.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "time-and-versions",
                                "name": "Time, versions and supersession",
                                "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "validity-and-supersession",
                                        "name": "Validity period and supersession",
                                        "description": "How an old claim about a polymerase chain reaction is retired without being erased.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a polymerase chain reaction, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a polymerase chain reaction, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a polymerase chain reaction is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "statistics": {
                "bundles": 6,
                "layers": 12,
                "findings": 14,
                "questions": 38
            }
        }
    }
}