Abstract: Methods and systems are described for generating dynamic conversational responses using two-tier machine learning models. The dynamic conversational responses may be generated in real time and reflect the likely goals and/or intents of a user. The two-tier machine learning model may include a first tier that determines an intent cluster based on a feature input, and a second tier that determines a specific intent from the cluster.

Abstract: The indirect querying of models to determine capabilities possessed by the model. Such indirect queries take the form of model input that potentially includes a natural language input user data. Such model input is structured such that the output of the model is either not natural language at all, or else is natural language that is not semantically responsive to the natural language input. Nevertheless, the output is evaluated to estimate or determine the capability possessed by the model. Thus, models may be more fully utilized to their better potential.

Abstract: Described are a method for the manufacture of a shoe sole, the sole manufactured by the method, and a shoe including the sole. The method includes loading a pre-manufactured article comprising thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material into a mold; loading pellets of an expanded thermoplastic polyurethane (eTPU) material into said mold; and connecting the pellets with each other and to the pre-manufactured TPU article by providing an interconnecting medium, wherein the material of the pre-manufactured TPU article either comprises an additive to increase the viscosity of the material of the pre-manufactured TPU article, or has been annealed.

Abstract: The invention concerns a bottle opener (101) for removing a cap (301) from a bottle (300). It comprises an image sensor (206) for capturing an image of the cap (301), a fulcrum surface (103) for contacting the cap and a hook (102,104) engageable under a flange (304) of the cap (301) for removing it from the bottle in response of a relative rotation of said bottle opener (101) with respect to the bottle (300) using the fulcrum surface (103) as a fulcrum. A removal detector (202, 204) is arranged to trigger a capture of an image by sensing a force between the fulcrum surface (103) and the hook (104) that exceeds a predefined threshold.

Abstract: Described are soles for a shoe, in particular for a sports shoe, with a midsole. The midsole includes a first sole region, which includes particle foam. The midsole further includes a deformation region within the midsole, wherein the deformation region has a volume greater than that of a single expanded particle and is positioned so that it allows a sideward deformation of the material of the first sole region under a pressure load on the sole.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods modifying cell surface markers of red blood cells (RBCs) and uses of the same. In particular, the method comprises contacting an RBC with a peptide in the presence of a ligase, under suitable conditions and for sufficient time to allow ligation of the peptide to the RBC to form an RBC-peptide conjugate. In one embodiment, the ligase is OaAEPI ligase. The RBC-peptide conjugate may be further contacted with an effector molecule under suitable conditions and for sufficient time for conjugation of the effector molecule to the RBC-peptide to form an RBC-peptide-effector molecule conjugate.

Abstract: Methods for manufacturing cushioning elements for sports apparel are described. A method is provided for manufacturing a cushioning element for sports apparel from randomly arranged particles of an expanded material. The method includes positioning a functional element within a mold and loading the mold with the particles of the expanded material, wherein the loading occurs through at least two openings within the mold and/or wherein the loading occurs between different movable parts of the mold.

Abstract: Various embodiments relate generally to data science and data analysis, computer software and systems, and wired and wireless network communications to provide an interface between repositories of disparate datasets and computing machine-based entities that seek access to the datasets, and, more specifically, to a computing and data storage platform that facilitates consolidation of one or more datasets, whereby a collaborative data layer and associated logic facilitate, for example, efficient access to, and implementation of, collaborative datasets. In some examples, a system may include an atomized workflow loader configured to receive an atomized dataset to load into a data store, and to determine resource requirements data to describe at least one resource requirement. The atomized workflow loader may be further configured to select a data store type based on a resource requirement, and perform a load operation of the atomized dataset as a function of the data store type.

Abstract: A method for automated manufacturing of shoe soles comprises the steps of: loading a transfer device with at least one outsole element and at least one supporting element, positioning the loaded transfer device adjacent a first part and a second part of a sole mold, transferring the at least one outsole element from the transfer device to the first part and transferring the at least one supporting element from the transfer device to the second part of the sole mold, filling the sole mold with a plurality of individual particles, and applying a medium to bond and/or fuse the particles with each other and with the at least one outsole element.

Abstract: Various techniques are described for platform management of integrated access of public and privately-accessible datasets utilizing federated query generation and query schema rewriting optimization, including receiving at a dataset access platform a query formatted according to a first data schema, generating a copy of the query, saving the query and the copy to a datastore, parsing the copy of the query in the first schema using an inference engine, determining whether the query comprises data associated with an access control condition associated with accessing the dataset, the access control condition being configured to indicate whether the query is permitted to access the dataset, and rewriting, using a proxy server, the copy of the query in a second schema, and optimizing the rewriting by identifying a database engine to execute the query and including other data converted into another triple associated with an attribute of the query.

Abstract: A system and method for mind-body relaxation may include a plurality of vibration modules, a light-providing member, a controller, a relaxation substrate, a pillow member, a graphical user interface (GUI), and network connection circuitry.

Abstract: Edit automation functionality generalizes edits performed by a user in a document, locates similar text, and recommends or applies transforms while staying within a current workflow. Source code edits such as refactoring are automated. The functionality uses or provides anchor target lists, temporal edit patterns, edit graphs, automatable edit sequence libraries, and other data structures and computational techniques for identifying locations appropriate for particular edits, for getting transforms, for selecting optimal transforms, for leveraging transforms in an editing session or later, and for displaying transform recommendations and results. The edit automation functionality enhances automation subtool generation, discoverability, and flexibility, for refactoring, snippet insertion, quick actions in an integrated development environment, and other automatable edit sequences.

Abstract: Described are methods and systems are for generating dynamic conversational queries. For example, as opposed to being a simply reactive system, the methods and systems herein provide means for actively determining a user's intent and generating a dynamic query based on the determined user intent. Moreover, these methods and systems generate these queries in a conversational environment.

Abstract: Embodiments use a multi-modal approach to generate software programs that match a solution program description. The solution program description may include natural language, input-output examples, partial source code, desired operators, or other hints. Some embodiments use optimized prompts to a pre-trained language model to obtain initial candidate programs. Maximal program components are extracted and then recombined variously using component-based synthesis. Beam search reduces a solution program search space by discarding some candidates from a given synthesis iteration. Relevance metrics, string similarity metrics, operator frequency distributions, token rareness scores, and other optimizations may be employed. By virtue of optimizations and the multi-modal approach, a solution program may be obtained after fewer iterations than by use of a language model alone.

Abstract: Various techniques are described for platform management of integrated access of public and privately-accessible datasets utilizing federated query generation and query schema rewriting optimization, including receiving at a dataset access platform a query formatted according to a first data schema, generating a copy of the query, saving the query and the copy to a datastore, parsing the copy of the query in the first schema using an inference engine, determining whether the query comprises data associated with an access control condition associated with accessing the dataset, the access control condition being configured to indicate whether the query is permitted to access the dataset, and rewriting, using a proxy server, the copy of the query in a second schema by converting the copy of the query into a triple associated with the query and another triple associated with the access control condition.

Abstract: A method and an associated controller for safely operating a multi-axis kinematic system by using a safety function are disclosed. The method includes calculating compensation values at the run time of a controller of the multi-axis kinematic system, wherein the calculation is performed based on predefinable error values of respective axes, geometric parameters of the multi-axis kinematic system, and current axis values of the multi-axis kinematic system. The method further includes operating the safety function based on the calculated compensation values.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for training a machine learning model using teacher annealing.

Abstract: A method for processing image data, including obtaining a raw input image that is captured using a first image sensor under an input illumination condition; obtaining, using a transform estimator, a color transform that maps a characteristic of the first image sensor to a characteristic of a second image sensor, based on the input illumination condition; and generating a raw output image having the characteristic of the second image sensor based on the raw input image and the color transform.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that train a machine-learned language encoding model through the use of a contrastive learning task. In particular, the present disclosure describes a contrastive learning task where the encoder learns to distinguish input tokens from plausible alternatives. In some implementations, on each training example the proposed method masks out some subset (e.g., 15%) of the original input tokens, replaces the masked tokens with samples from a “generator” (e.g., which may be a small masked language model), and then trains the encoder to predict whether each token comes from the original data or is a replacement produced by the generator.

Abstract: Methods and systems disclosed herein collect user data in real-time and organize them (e.g., using collaborative filtering) into groups (e.g., clusters). The system then determines statistical distributions of observed real-time intents (e.g., based on actual selections made by users) for each group. The system then merges this distribution with existing model predictions (e.g., a model trained on historical training data) to balance between historical and dynamically updated information.