Abstract: A device for sealing an aperture in a tissue includes: a foot including a distal portion configured to be disposed distal to the tissue when the device is implanted in a position to seal the aperture; and a flexible wing positionable against a distal surface of the tissue adjacent the aperture such that the flexible wing is disposed between the distal portion of the foot and the distal surface adjacent the aperture.

Abstract: A system and method for assembling framing assemblies for use as ceiling or floor structures of modular building units using automation are disclosed. The framing assemblies include trusses that are attached at the lateral edges thereof by a joist including at least one layer of dimensional lumber to form a substantially rigid framework. Cover panels are positioned over and attached to an inner surface of the framing assembly.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are various systems, sub-system, and methods for the manufacture of a wall module for using in building a modular construction unit, e.g., for using in building residential homes, commercial offices, educational or service facilities, etc. using a substantially entirely automated modular construction technique. According to the disclosure herein, the resulting wall module includes an internal wall frame including wall studs attached between a top plate and a bottom plate, with, in some embodiment, one or more framing sub-assemblies attached therein to define openings through the wall module. The wall frame has suitable panel members the respective surfaces thereof corresponding to the interior and exterior surfaces of the modular construction unit. The wall frames, when completely assembled, can be transported to be assembled with other constituent components of the modular construction unit to complete the manufacture of the modular construction unit.

Abstract: Various embodiments are directed to a system that utilizes regular expression (regex) to recognize at least portions of characters, words, text, numbers, etc. in a structured or unstructured dataset, any patterns associated therewith, and/or similarities between the determined patterns. In examples, a regex-based pattern recognition platform may receive a dataset and determine whether at least a first regex pattern and a second regex pattern can be identified. The occurrences of the first and second regex patterns and the frequency of those occurrences may reveal something about the dataset itself or any patterns contained therein.

Abstract: The current document is directed to a meta-level management system (“MMS”) that aggregates information and functionalities provided by multiple management systems and provides additional management functionalities and information. In one implementation, the MMS interfaces to external entities and users through an MMS application programming interface (“API”) implemented as a GraphQL™ interface. The MMS API, in turn, accesses microservices and stream/batch processing components through microservice and stream/batch-processing-component GraphQL interfaces. The MMS employs at least three different databases: (1) an inventory/configuration database; (2) a metrics database that stores metrics derived from time-series data obtained from the multiple management systems and from other information stored in the inventory/configuration database; and (3) an MMS database that stores business insights and other MMS-generated data. A central data bus is implemented by a KAFKA™ event-streaming system.

Abstract: The current document is directed to a meta-level management system (“MMS”) that aggregates information and functionalities provided by multiple underlying management systems in addition to providing additional information and management functionalities. In one implementation, the MMS creates and maintains a single inventory-and-configuration-management database (“ICMDB”), implemented using a graph database, to store a comprehensive inventory of managed entities known to, and managed by, the multiple underlying management systems. Each managed entity is associated with an entity identifier and is represented in the ICMBD by a node. Managed entities that are managed by two or more of the multiple underlying management systems are represented by nodes that include references to one or more namespaces.

Abstract: The current document is directed to reinforcement-learning-based controllers and managers that control distributed applications and the infrastructure environments in which they run. The reinforcement-learning-based controllers and managers are both referred to as “management-system agents” in this document. Management-system agents are initially trained in simulated environments and specialized training environments before being deployed to live, target distributed computer systems. The management-system agents deployed to live, target distributed computer systems operate in a controller mode, in which they do not explore the control-state space or attempt to learn better policies and value functions, but instead produce traces that are collected and stored for subsequent use.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are related to a personal lifting apparatus including an outer frame with a pair of opposing sides, each side including an upper handle, outer vertical support, and a foundation bar. There is an upper crossbar and a lower crossbar extending from one side and connecting to the opposing side. A motor assembly is situated atop the upper crossbar and a threaded rod extends from the upper crossbar to the lower crossbar. An inner frame includes a pair of tracks attached thereto, a seat assembly attached to the pair of tracks and a threaded slide coupler fixedly attached to the seat assembly. The seat is pliable material. The seat assembly is structured to ascend and descend within the outer frame via the slide coupler. It is structured to align with the floor in a first position and lift a seated user to a second position.

Abstract: A variable length interstitial probe apparatus includes: a probe for effecting thermal therapy and/or cryotherapy to a tissue; a flexible umbilical sheath permanently affixed to the probe, including at least one interface for supplying energy, cooling fluid, cooling gas, heating fluid, and/or heating gas to the probe; and an adjustable depth stop configured to slide along a length of a shaft region of the probe, and lock to the shaft region at a selected position. The adjustable depth stop is configured to engage a probe driver and/or a skull mount apparatus to stabilize positioning of the probe and to control a depth of entry of the probe into a patient. The probe may be configured to effect temperature modulation therapy, where processing circuitry activates a modulation pattern of thermal therapy emission and cryogenic therapy emission for applying a thermal dose to the tissue.

Abstract: In an illustrative embodiment, an adjustable cradle assembly for adjusting a head position of a patient relative to a patient platform includes a base portion with a pair of vertical support members and a cradle portion. The vertical support members may each include at least one position aperture for setting a vertical height of the cradle portion relative to the base portion. The cradle portion may include a channel for receiving a head fixation ring. The cradle portion may include at least one set of adjustment connection points for aligning with position apertures of each vertical support member. The cradle may be pivotably connected to the vertical support members such that a pitch angle of a head position of a patient secured in the head fixation apparatus may be adjusted. A set of adjustment mechanisms may releasably secure the cradle to the base at a selected lateral and/or pitch position.

Abstract: An example method comprising receiving volunteer information, receiving service opportunity information, generate a query based on at least some of the volunteer information to identify one or more service opportunities, searching, using the query based on at least some of the volunteer information, to identify the one or more service opportunities from the service opportunity information, providing a first list of service opportunities based on the one or more service opportunities that were identified based on the search, receiving a selection of a service opportunity from the list of service opportunities, scheduling a volunteer associated with the volunteer system for service associated with the selected service opportunity, notifying at least one of the unrelated service opportunity systems associated with the selected service opportunity, receiving an indication of completion of the selected service opportunity and an indication of the volunteer's participation in the selected service opportunity, and u

Abstract: An interlock component for a software system may comprise an input for receiving an interaction request for a first system component and system data, a processor arranged to assess the interaction request and the system data relative to predefined system logic rules to determine if the interaction request satisfies the system logic rules, and an output arranged to output the interaction request to the first system component if the system logic rules are satisfied.

Abstract: The current document is directed to methods and systems for simulation-based training of automated reinforcement-learning-based application managers. Simulators are generated from data collected from controlled computing environments controlled and may employ any of a variety of different machine-learning models to learn state-transition and reward models. The current disclosed methods and systems provide facilities for visualizing aspects of the models learned by a simulator and for initializing simulator models using domain information. In addition, the currently disclosed simulators employ weighted differences computed from simulator-generated and training-data state transitions for feedback to the machine-learning models to address various biases and deficiencies of commonly employed difference metrics in the context of training automated reinforcement-learning-based application managers.

Abstract: According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interlock component for a software system. The interlock component may comprise an input for receiving an interaction request for a first system component and system data. The interlock component may comprise a processor arranged to assess the interaction request and the system data relative to predefined system logic rules to determine if the interaction request satisfies the system logic rules. The interlock component may comprise an output arranged to output the interaction request to the first system component in the event that the system logic rules are satisfied.

Abstract: A control system (10) having a hierarchical distributed architecture, the system (10) comprising: a plurality of nodes (12), each node (12) hosting one or more services (18) and a respective node agent (22); a communications bus providing communication between nodes (12); and a system agent (24) hosted on one of the plurality of nodes (12), the system agent (24) being configured to monitor a lifecycle state of the system (10); wherein each node agent (22) is configured to transmit data relating to a state of its respective node (12) and a respective state of the or each service (18) hosted on its respective node (12) to the system agent (24), thereby enabling the system agent (24) to monitor the lifecycle state of the system (10). A vehicle (46) comprising said control system (10).

Abstract: An activity monitor for a modular software system, the system having a first software component for use in configuring operation of a second software component via a proxy and stub interface, the activity monitor comprising; an input arranged to monitor a first event associated with the first software component and a second event associated with the proxy; a processor arranged to compare the first and second events to a schedule of events to assess compliance with the schedule of events; and an output arranged to generate an error message in response to non-compliance with the schedule of events, the error message being for use in treating the error. A method of generating an activity monitor for monitoring operation of a modular software system.

Abstract: The current document is directed to an automated reinforcement-learning-based application manager that uses action tags and metric tags. In various implementations, actions and metrics are associated with tags. Different types of tags can contain different types of information that can be used to greatly improve the computational efficiency by which the reinforcement-learning-based application manager explores the action-state space in order to determine and maintain an optimal or near-optimal management policy by providing a vehicle for domain knowledge to influence control-policy decision making.

Abstract: An activity monitor for a modular software system, the system having a first software component for use in configuring operation of a second software component via a proxy and stub interface, the activity monitor comprising; an input arranged to monitor a first event associated with the first software component and a second event associated with the proxy; a processor arranged to compare the first and second events to a schedule of events to assess compliance with the schedule of events; and an output arranged to generate an error message in response to non-compliance with the schedule of events, the error message being for use in treating the error. A method of generating an activity monitor for monitoring operation of a modular software system.

Abstract: The current document is directed to a safe-operation-constrained reinforcement-learning-based application manager that can be deployed in various different computational environments, without extensive manual modification and interface development, to manage the computational environments with respect to one or more reward-specified goals. Control actions undertaken by the safe-operation-constrained reinforcement-learning-based application manager are constrained, by stored action filters, to constrain state/action-space exploration by the safe-operation-constrained reinforcement-learning-based application manager to safe actions and thus prevent deleterious impact to the managed computational environment.

Abstract: The current document is directed to transfer of training received by a first automated reinforcement-learning-based application manager while controlling a first application is transferred to a second automated reinforcement-learning-based application manager which controls a second application different from the first application. Transferable training provides a basis for automated generation of applications from application components. Transferable training is obtained from composition of applications from application components and composition of reinforcement-learning-based-control-and-learning constructs from reinforcement-learning-based-control-and-learning constructs of application components.