Symbolic Manifolds & Entropic Dynamics — v4.3 (SWOW→KEC→ZuCo validation pack)

This record is the authoritative v4.3 snapshot of a reproducible research line linking symbolic state metrics (KEC: transition entropy, local/meso curvature, coherence) derived from SWOW lexical graphs to natural reading physiology in ZuCo 1.0/2.0 (eye-tracking + EEG). The current phase is Symbolic-First: HELIO analyses are explicitly deferred; the emphasis here is transparent methods, auditable code paths, and clinical-computational interpretability. What’s in this version (2025-08-28). Curated governance pack: README_v4.3.md, CITATION_v4.3.cff, metadata_v4.3.yaml, zenodo_v4.3.json, QUALITY_GATES.md, CHANGELOG_v4.3_addendum.md. Outreach assets: concise email templates for high-impact co-supervision, one-pager placeholders, and a minimal slide narrative. Analysis scaffolding (public-data-only): SWOW→KEC feature spec; ZuCo alignment plan (fixation-locked EEG bands θ/α; reading cost); stats blueprint (OLS with robust SEs, MixedLM with random intercepts; BH-FDR; bootstrap). Reproducibility: fixed seeds, provenance.yaml model, strict no-broken-links, and Q1–Q10 quality gates. Methods snapshot. KEC metric (symbolic state): transition entropy on word-association paths; local/meso curvature (graph-geometric), and mesoscale coherence. Validation target: ZuCo fixation-aligned signals and sentence-level reading measures. Models: OLS (HC/robust SEs) and MixedLM (random intercepts by sentence/subject where applicable); BH-FDR across families; nonparametric bootstrap for interval estimation. Placebos include degree-preserving shuffles and null-graph ablations. Minimum reporting: N events/titles; ΔKEC (mean, CI); q[FDR]; F2 (reading vs KEC) and F3 (EEG θ/α vs KEC) to be versioned alongside model outputs (models_reading_coeffs(_fdr).csv, mixedlm_*_summary.txt, figures/metrics/*). Reproducibility & governance.Open methods, public datasets (SWOW, ZuCo), no PII. Versioned DOIs; machine-readable metadata; CITATION.cff; clear licensing (CC BY 4.0 for text; MIT suggested for code). Quality regime: linting, metadata validation, provenance stamping, and link checks. Seeds pinned; decisions logged in the changelog. Intended audience.Computational psychiatry & neuroscience, NLP/cognitive modeling, graph theory and complex systems, reproducible-science practitioners, and clinical researchers seeking interpretable links between symbolic structure and physiological reading dynamics. Acknowledgements & contributors.Lead author: Demetrios C. Agourakis (ORCID 0000-0002-8596-5097).Contributor (Data Science & AI): Dionisio Chiuratto Agourakis.We acknowledge the maintainers of SWOW and ZuCo and will follow their citation/licensing requirements in all derivative analyses. Ethics & data use.This work relies exclusively on public, previously published datasets; no new human data were collected; no IRB approval is required for this computational re-analysis. How to cite.Agourakis DC. Symbolic Manifolds & Entropic Dynamics — v4.3 (SWOW→KEC→ZuCo validation pack). Zenodo; 2025. Version DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17039429. Concept DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16533374.