D3 · Adaptation: adjudication

Decide what the return changes

D3 asks which community responses require a change to the model, which describe local variations, and which remain unresolved. It is the substantive review of the answers collected in D2.

Where this stage starts

D2 has supplied local accounts, adaptation lines, independent verdicts and a record of missing returns. The aggregator has the fixed model those communities answered. It examines responses by model element, so corrections concerning the same claim can be compared across communities.

What the aggregator does

For each proposed adaptation, the aggregator returns to its evidence and records a decision: accept it, modify it with a reason, reject it, or retain it as a supported local particular. Unsupported or unresolved claims remain pending. Original responses stay in the record.

Similar corrections from more than one community trigger a closer comparison. Repetition alone does not establish a shared mechanism. The aggregator must show that the evidence warrants the same change, condition or distinction. A claim supported only in one community can stay in that local account without becoming a new population-wide element.

The aggregator also investigates communities the model could not explain. Some organized in a way the model misses. Others fall outside its subject, or have too little evidence to judge. These are different limits and must not be combined into one failure score. Disputed verdicts and tentative claims from the field account receive explicit rulings too.

If the model changes, affected communities must see the revised version. The aggregator documents how they were identified; uncertain scope requires a return to all communities. The handler resumes their return leads, and revised accounts and verdicts are checked again. A small pilot cannot certify every affected account.

What the next stage receives

D4 receives one frozen model version and an adjudicated record of adaptations tied to it. Original fit, current local adequacy and shared corrections stay separate. The model cannot be frozen at a newer version than the one served to the affected communities.