SIENTIAPDE-1273

Refactor data handling in various modules to ensure DataFrame consistency

- Replaced direct DataFrame instantiation with `ensure_dataframe` utility in Gates, MLFlow, OPC, and ModelMetrics classes to standardize data handling.
- Updated return types in several asynchronous methods to return DataFrames instead of dictionaries for improved usability.
- Adjusted data export processes in workflows to convert DataFrames to dictionaries with `to_dict(orient='records')` for compatibility with downstream systems.

laborious/activities/opc.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from typing import Hashable
 from temporalio import activity, workflow
 
 with workflow.unsafe.imports_passed_through():
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ with workflow.unsafe.imports_passed_through():
     from sientia_do.observability.metrics_controller import MetricsController
     from sientia_do.observability.sientia_monitoring import SientiaMonitoring
 
+    from laborious.utils.dataframe_utils import ensure_dataframe
     from laborious.utils.repository.opc_repository import OpcRepository
 
 OPC_WRITTING_ERROR_CONFIDENCE = 12
@@ -275,7 +277,7 @@ class OPC(SientiaMonitoring):
     @activity.defn(name='write_opc_data')
     async def write_opc_data(
         self, input_data: dict[str, Any]
-    ) -> tuple[dict[Any, Any], dict[str, dict[str, float | None]]]:
+    ) -> tuple[dict[Hashable, Any], dict[str, dict[str, float | None]]]:
         """
         Write prediction and confidence data to OPC servers. The two writing
         operations are optional and independent of each other.
@@ -295,7 +297,7 @@ class OPC(SientiaMonitoring):
         """
         metadata = input_data['metadata']
         self.info('Writing data to OPC servers...', metadata)
-        data = DataFrame(input_data['data'])
+        data = ensure_dataframe(input_data['data'])
         opc_output_config = input_data['opc_output_config']
         self.info(f'Data to write: {data.size} rows', metadata)
 
@@ -324,7 +326,7 @@ class OPC(SientiaMonitoring):
 
     def process_confidence(
         self, data: DataFrame, success: bool, metadata: dict[str, Any]
-    ) -> dict[Any, Any]:
+    ) -> dict[Hashable, Any]:
         """
         Process prediction confidence based on OPC write operation success.