{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","cell_id":"search_space_pruning__accounting_auditing","arm":"CONSTRAINED_HIGH","candidate_id":"search_space_pruning__accounting_auditing__CONSTRAINED_HIGH","decision":"PROPOSAL","abstention_reason":null,"proposal":{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp12_substrate_denial72_20260805","cell_id":"search_space_pruning__accounting_auditing","arm":"CONSTRAINED_HIGH","candidate_id":"search_space_pruning__accounting_auditing__CONSTRAINED_HIGH","proposal_index":1,"version":0,"title":"Mechanical Bound Gate for Pruning Destructive Inventory Counts","problem":"An auditor must test the recorded quantities of many sealed, standardized totes containing nominally identical metal parts. Opening and hand-counting every tote is destructive, slow, and potentially disruptive, but selecting totes solely by judgment or an arbitrary sample can miss physically impossible quantity claims.","actors":["External or internal inventory auditor","Warehouse custodian","Standardized sealed totes","Nominally identical metal parts","Calibrated reference parts and empty totes","Mechanical balance gate"],"observable_state":"For each tote, the recorded SKU and quantity imply a permissible gross-mass interval derived from independently measured empty-tote and per-part mass bounds. The directly observable state is whether the tote makes a calibrated balance remain within that interval or mechanically tip beyond its lower or upper stop.","consequence":"Without an early physical feasibility screen, scarce destructive-count capacity is spread across totes whose claims differ greatly in physical plausibility, while some claims that cannot be reconciled with measured mass may not receive prompt examination.","affected_objective":"Concentrate destructive inventory-count work on physically infeasible quantity claims while preserving a check on screened-out totes and without treating an in-band mass as proof of correct inventory.","intervention":"Build a non-computational balance fixture with interchangeable, physically calibrated lower and upper counterweight stops for each approved tote, SKU, and claimed-count range. A tote placed on the fixture is routed mechanically into an under-bound lane, an in-band lane, or an over-bound lane. Under- and over-bound totes remain candidates for opening and reconciliation because their claims violate a hard physical mass bound. In-band totes are pruned only from the immediate destructive-count queue, not declared correct. A cam-actuated diverter sends a preselected fraction of in-band totes to a holdout lane for destructive counting. Calibration failure, damaged seals, mixed contents, or an unrecognized tote type prevents pruning and sends the tote to the exception lane.","structural_mapping":[{"archetype_element":"Search Space Definition","domain_realization":"All sealed standardized totes covered by the inventory quantity audit."},{"archetype_element":"Candidate or Region Representation","domain_realization":"Each tote is one candidate for destructive opening and count; SKU, tote type, and claimed-count band define its physical comparison class."},{"archetype_element":"Objective or Success Criterion","domain_realization":"Identify quantity claims that are physically infeasible while reducing avoidable destructive counts without accepting screened totes as verified."},{"archetype_element":"Constraint Filter","domain_realization":"The claimed quantity must imply a gross mass between tare-minimum plus count times part-mass-minimum and tare-maximum plus count times part-mass-maximum."},{"archetype_element":"Feasibility Test","domain_realization":"A calibrated balance compares actual gross mass directly with the two physical bounds."},{"archetype_element":"Pruning Rule","domain_realization":"Only sealed, recognized, calibration-valid totes that remain between both stops may leave the immediate opening queue; every other tote is retained."},{"archetype_element":"Diversity Preservation Rule","domain_realization":"The passive cam diverter retains in-band totes across successive physical positions for destructive-count holdout rather than allowing the entire in-band class to disappear."},{"archetype_element":"False-Negative Review","domain_realization":"Destructive counts of cam-diverted in-band totes reveal wrong quantities, substitution, or overly broad mass tolerances hidden inside the accepted interval."},{"archetype_element":"Reentry or Exception Path","domain_realization":"Any tote returns to the opening queue after a failed calibration check, seal damage, changed part specification, changed tare range, or an in-band holdout discrepancy."},{"archetype_element":"Pruning Audit Trail","domain_realization":"Numbered lane clips can preserve tote identity, gate setting, and disposition, but they do not operate the measurement or mechanical separation."}],"mechanism_mapping":[{"mechanism_slug":"constraint_filtering","role":"The two balance stops embody hard lower and upper physical feasibility constraints and mechanically separate violations from the in-band region.","counterfactual_removal":"Without the bound comparison, no tote class has a physically justified basis for leaving or entering the immediate destructive-count queue."},{"mechanism_slug":"triage_filter","role":"The three physical lanes distinguish under-bound exceptions, deferred in-band totes, and over-bound exceptions before costly opening.","counterfactual_removal":"Measurement could still occur, but the instrument would no longer physically narrow the set presented for immediate destructive counting."},{"mechanism_slug":"sample_audit_of_exclusions","role":"The cam diverter preserves a holdout from the in-band lane so false negatives can be observed by destructive count.","counterfactual_removal":"The primary gate would still prune physically, but hidden substitutions and wrong counts that remain within the mass interval would lack an internal detection safeguard."}],"causal_chain":["Known tare and unit-mass tolerances define a physically possible gross-mass interval for a claimed count.","Interchangeable counterweights and stops instantiate that interval in the balance fixture.","A tote's gravitational force moves the balance relative to those stops without software or inferred scoring.","The mechanism physically routes out-of-bound totes into exception lanes and in-band totes into a deferred lane.","Immediate destructive-count effort is thereby narrowed to physical constraint violations plus a mechanically retained holdout.","Holdout discrepancies or calibration failures reopen the affected comparison class rather than allowing irreversible pruning."],"baseline":"Open and count every tote, or choose totes for opening through an uninstrumented judgmental or fixed-size sample without first applying a hard physical feasibility bound.","nearest_rivals":["Full destructive opening and hand count of every tote","Ordinary statistical sampling without a physical feasibility screen","A standalone electronic scale whose readings are manually reviewed","Radiographic or machine-vision inspection of tote contents"],"remaining_contrastive_claim":"Relative to uninstrumented sampling, the fixture directly instantiates claimed-count mass bounds and physically removes only calibration-valid, in-band totes from the immediate destructive-count queue while retaining all bound violations and a physical holdout. It does not establish that an in-band tote is correctly stated.","authority_safety":{"decision_authority":"The audit engagement lead and the audited entity's inventory custodian jointly control whether a bounded pilot may handle sealed totes; only the auditor decides how results affect audit work.","authorized_first_step":"Bench-test the fixture on inert reference totes and a bounded set of segregated pilot totes, followed by ground-truth opening and count; do not use pilot routing to change accounting records.","excluded_actions":["Treating an in-band result as sufficient evidence that recorded quantity or value is correct","Posting ledger adjustments automatically or solely from gate position","Screening mixed-SKU, liquid, perishable, hazardous, unstable, or nonstandard containers","Bypassing required custody, seal-integrity, safety, or audit-evidence controls","Using a bound template after calibration failure or specification change"],"halt_rollback":"Stop routing if a reference tote misses its expected lane, a tote or seal is damaged, a part or tare distribution exceeds the calibration bounds, or a holdout reveals an unexplained in-band discrepancy. Quarantine all totes processed since the last valid reference check and return them to the ordinary audit queue."},"negative_tests":{"strongest_counterevidence":"Ground-truth counts may show that substitution, mixed parts, compensating shortages and overages, variable packaging, or deliberately added ballast allow materially wrong quantities to remain inside the permissible mass band.","problem_falsifier":"The problem is absent if the tote population can be fully counted safely within available capacity, or if no stable tote and unit-mass bounds exist from which a useful physical feasibility interval can be constructed.","intervention_falsifier":"The intervention fails if blind ground-truth trials show bound violations entering the in-band lane, calibration-valid correct totes systematically entering exception lanes, or an in-band discrepancy pattern that cannot be bounded by the holdout design.","risks":["False reassurance from interpreting mass feasibility as quantity verification","Concealment through ballast or substitution with different-value items of similar mass","Incorrect bounds caused by moisture, corrosion, packaging variation, or part revisions","Damage or ergonomic injury while moving heavy totes onto the fixture","Predictable holdout positions enabling manipulation","Excessively broad tolerances pruning little or concealing discrepancies","Incorrect interchangeable stop or counterweight installed for the tote class"]},"next_evidence_step":"Construct one bench fixture for a single nonhazardous SKU and tote type. Blindly route a bounded set of reference totes containing correctly counted, under-counted, over-counted, and equal-mass substituted configurations; intersperse calibration references; then open every tote to compare lane assignment with ground truth and determine whether any defensible pruning interval remains.","prior_art_status":"UNSEARCHED","diversity_from_prior_proposals":"Not assessed because runtime isolation prohibits inspecting other proposals; this candidate is derived only from the supplied archetype and domain card.","revision_record":{"parent_version":null,"progress_targets_addressed":["Preserve explicit search-space pruning under a binding non-software substrate constraint","Provide a physical false-negative safeguard and reentry path","Limit the accounting claim to inventory quantity feasibility rather than correctness"],"conceptual_changes":["Realized candidate pruning as a direct gravitational comparison against hard physical bounds","Separated immediate-queue pruning from audit verification"],"operational_changes":["Added three-lane mechanical routing, calibration references, and a cam-actuated holdout","Restricted use to standardized sealed totes of nominally identical nonhazardous parts"],"evidence_changes":["Specified blind ground-truth testing of correct, discrepant, and equal-mass substituted totes"],"claim_changes":["Disclaimed novelty, effect size, and correctness inference from an in-band result"]},"substrate_contract":{"primary_allowed_process":"MEASUREMENT_INSTRUMENTATION","counterfactual_independence":"Removing software, algorithms, databases, dashboards, reporting, incentives, authorization rules, and procedural enforcement does not remove the essential effect: gravity still moves the balance against physical counterweight stops, and the linkage still sends totes into different lanes. Human actions are needed to load totes and investigate exceptions, but not to calculate or cause the pruning separation.","forbidden_channel_audit":"The fixture contains no software, learned model, database lookup, digital sensor analytics, recommender, or automated ledger interface. Lane labels, numbered clips, custody rules, and approval limits are support wrappers only; deleting them would reduce auditability or safe use but would not stop the calibrated balance from measuring and physically separating the candidate set."}}}