Abstract: Exemplary embodiments of a composite pallet with augmented compression support may comprise a pallet pulp body, a multiplicity of support foot sheathes, and a support bottom plate. The pallet pulp body may be comprised of pulp and may have an upper faceplate and a plurality of support feet disposed oppositely of the upper faceplate. A foot cavity may be defined within each support foot. Each of the support foot sheaths may envelope at least a portion of a corresponding support foot. The support bottom plate may be affixed to two or more of the support foot sheaths. A plurality of arcuate stiffener grooves may be disposed in the upper faceplate. One or more of the foot cavities may have a compression column disposed therein. Each compression column may comprise one or more column layers, a compression column block, or a combination thereof. The column layers may be nested.

Abstract: A method for detecting collisions associated with a simulation includes generating a plurality of dual quaternion representations associated with a plurality of curved trajectories for a plurality of objects. The method also includes determining a semialgebraic domain associated with the plurality of dual quaternion representations and performing an optimization over the semialgebraic domain to determine one or more collision states associated with the plurality of objects. The method further includes causing the simulation to be performed based on the one or more collision states.

Abstract: A method for detecting collisions associated with a simulation includes generating a plurality of spline-based representations associated with a plurality of objects. The method also includes determining a semialgebraic domain associated with the plurality of spline-based representations and performing an optimization over the semialgebraic domain to determine one or more collision states associated with the plurality of objects. The method further includes causing the simulation to be performed based on the one or more collision states.

Abstract: Exemplary embodiments of a composite pallet with augmented compression support may comprise a pallet pulp body, a multiplicity of support foot sheathes, and a support bottom plate. The pallet pulp body may be comprised of pulp and may have an upper faceplate and a plurality of support feet disposed oppositely of the upper faceplate. A foot cavity may be defined within each support foot. Each of the support foot sheaths may envelope at least a portion of a corresponding support foot. The support bottom plate may be affixed to two or more of the support foot sheaths. A plurality of arcuate stiffener grooves may be disposed in the upper faceplate. One or more of the foot cavities may have a compression column disposed therein. Each compression column may comprise one or more column layers, a compression column block, or a combination thereof. The column layers may be nested.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for accessing a scale-out block interface in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). During operation, an instance of a block device service (BDS) receives a data request from a client. The BDS instance translates the data request into a set of data block accesses, and then sends the translated data request to a data processing layer service (DPL). The DPL instance services the data request using a set of data operations that leverage one or more of a distributed cache, a distributed database, and a cloud storage system. The BDS service leverages the DPL instance to provide to the client an abstraction of a highly-available block storage device with unlimited storage space via the scale-out block interface.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems, methods, and computer product programs to identify one or more seminal cases within a database containing legal case data. The disclosed systems and methods provide an approach to identify one or more seminal cases for particular legal issues by mining a text database containing electronic legal documents for the reasons for citing and mining the text within to determine whether the legal issue addressed in the reasons for citing is directed to a seminal case. The data is created through data mining and obtained from the plurality the reasons for citing identifying the seminal cases for a particular legal issue such that the output data corresponding to the seminal cases causes an external device to distinguish the seminal cases when one or more of the seminal cases are returned as the result of a search.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for journaling data received in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). Multiple services simultaneously execute on the CBDCE compute nodes, with each service comprising multiple service instances that simultaneously execute on multiple, distinct compute nodes of the CBDCE. The CBDCE includes a distributed database that enables coordination between the service instances of services that execute in the CBDCE; this distributed database also includes multiple distributed database instances that simultaneously executing on multiple different CBDCE compute nodes. During operation, a service instance executing on one of these compute nodes receives a client request. The service instance submits this client request to a distributed database instance and, in parallel, also submits the client request and its associated user data to a distributed journaling service.

Abstract: A cooking appliance includes a cooktop having a cooking zone with at least one heating element beneath the cooktop in the cooking zone, a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the cooking zone, and a controller. The controller executes a temperature-protect mode upon receiving an indication of a presence of a temperature-sensitive component on the surface of the cooktop by adjusting power supplied to the heating element in response to a detected temperature of the cooking zone approaching, meeting or exceeding a threshold temperature in order to ensure that the detected temperature does not exceed the threshold temperature beyond a predetermined degree and/or for a predetermined period of time. The threshold temperature is predetermined to be one that will not damage the temperature-sensitive component.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing a distributed cache in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). During operation, an instance of a data processing layer service (DPL) receives a data request from a client that specifies an address and an operation for a target data block. The DPL instance uses these to determine a first cache instance of the distributed cache that is assigned to cache a metadata entry that links the address with a data block fingerprint for the target data block. The DPL instance then uses the data block fingerprint and the cache mapping to determine a second cache instance that is assigned to store the target data block, and then accesses the second cache instance to complete the operation for the target data block.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE) that comprises multiple geographically-distributed compute nodes. Multiple services simultaneously execute on the CBDCE compute nodes, with each service comprising multiple service instances that simultaneously execute on multiple distinct compute nodes of the CBDCE. During operation, the system uses a distributed database to track the status of the CBDCE to ensure the ongoing stability and scalability of the CBDCE. Upon receiving a request that is associated with the configuration of the CBDCE, a service accesses CBDCE status information from the distributed database to respond to the request.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing cloud-based storage using a time-series database. A distributed cloud data management system (DCDMS) manages objects stored in a cloud storage system. The DCDMS leverages a distributed time-series database to track objects accessed via the DCDMS. During operation, the DCDMS receives a request to access an object using a path identifier and an object identifier. The DCDMS determines from the path identifier that the request is associated with one of its supported extended capabilities, and uses the previously tracked object operations that are stored in the time-series database to determine the actual target bucket in the cloud storage system that contains the requested object; the target bucket that contains the object may be different from the bucket identified in the path identifier that is received. The object identifier is then used to access the requested object from the target bucket to service the request.

Abstract: Computer programs for searching a collection of electronic documents are disclosed. A computer program for searching a collection of electronic documents, includes instructions that cause the computer to carry out steps of: replacing a set of synonymous terms appearing in a paragraph with a set of standardized paragraph terms, where each standardized paragraph term has an associated term weight and generating standardized search terms in response to a search query, generating paragraph scores for paragraphs of a document based at least in part on the associated weights of standardized paragraph terms that match one or more of the standardized search terms. The computer program further includes determining overall document scores for the electronic documents based at least in part on a combination of the paragraph scores, and determining a set of matching documents, wherein the set of matching documents is ordered using the overall document scores.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for accessing a scale-out block interface in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). During operation, an instance of a block device service (BDS) receives a data request from a client. The BDS instance translates the data request into a set of data block accesses, and then sends the translated data request to a data processing layer service (DPL). The DPL instance services the data request using a set of data operations that leverage one or more of a distributed cache, a distributed database, and a cloud storage system. The BDS service leverages the DPL instance to provide to the client an abstraction of a highly-available block storage device with unlimited storage space via the scale-out block interface.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing a distributed cache in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). During operation, an instance of a data processing layer service (DPL) receives a data request from a client that specifies an address and an operation for a target data block. The DPL instance uses these to determine a first cache instance of the distributed cache that is assigned to cache a metadata entry that links the address with a data block fingerprint for the target data block. The DPL instance then uses the data block fingerprint and the cache mapping to determine a second cache instance that is assigned to store the target data block, and then accesses the second cache instance to complete the operation for the target data block.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for utilizing virtual machines to pool memory from disparate server systems that may have disparate types of memory is described. The method may include establishing communication between a pool virtual machine and two or more publisher virtual machines. The method may also include aggregating, by the pool virtual machine, portions of memory from each of two or more publisher servers to generate a pool of memory, and providing an application with access to the pool of memory, through the pool virtual machine.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE) that comprises multiple geographically-distributed compute nodes. Multiple services simultaneously execute on the CBDCE compute nodes, with each service comprising multiple service instances that simultaneously execute on multiple distinct compute nodes of the CBDCE. During operation, the system uses a distributed database to track the status of the CBDCE to ensure the ongoing stability and scalability of the CBDCE. Upon receiving a request that is associated with the configuration of the CBDCE, a service accesses CBDCE status information from the distributed database to respond to the request.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for managing cloud-based storage using a time-series database. A distributed cloud data management system (DCDMS) manages objects stored in a cloud storage system. The DCDMS leverages a distributed time-series database to track objects accessed via the DCDMS. During operation, the DCDMS receives a request to access an object using a path identifier and an object identifier. The DCDMS determines from the path identifier that the request is associated with one of its supported extended capabilities, and uses the previously tracked object operations that are stored in the time-series database to determine the actual target bucket in the cloud storage system that contains the requested object; the target bucket that contains the object may be different from the bucket identified in the path identifier that is received. The object identifier is then used to access the requested object from the target bucket to service the request.

Abstract: The disclosed embodiments disclose techniques for journaling data received in a cloud-based distributed computing environment (CBDCE). Multiple services simultaneously execute on the CBDCE compute nodes, with each service comprising multiple service instances that simultaneously execute on multiple, distinct compute nodes of the CBDCE. The CBDCE includes a distributed database that enables coordination between the service instances of services that execute in the CBDCE; this distributed database also includes multiple distributed database instances that simultaneously executing on multiple different CBDCE compute nodes. During operation, a service instance executing on one of these compute nodes receives a client request. The service instance submits this client request to a distributed database instance and, in parallel, also submits the client request and its associated user data to a distributed journaling service.

Abstract: Systems and methods for generating issue networks are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of generating an issue network from a document corpus includes searching, using a computer, the document corpus for a set of documents discussing a starting issue, wherein the starting issue is one of a plurality of normalized issues defined by the document corpus. The method further includes determining a set of normalized issues discussed by the set of documents discussing the starting issue, wherein the set of normalized issues also includes the starting issue, and determining instances of co-occurrences of individual normalized issues of the set of normalized issues within individual cases of the set of documents. The method also includes linking individual normalized issues of the set of normalized issues based on their co-occurrences within the set of documents, wherein the linked individual normalized issues at least in part define the issue network.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-executable instructions for identifying a document are described. A method includes receiving a query from a graphical user interface having one or more concepts, normalizing a set of terms or concepts in the query to create a normalized query, comparing the normalized query to a set of document centric concept profiles associated with a set of documents in a corpus, where each document centric concept includes a plurality of concepts and at least one reference value for each concept, where the reference value is calculated by tabulating the number of times a document associated with one of the document centric concept profiles is cited by a citing instance for the concept, and surfacing a document from the corpus with the highest reference value for the concept.