A computerized system for metals trading comprising: a commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) enterprise system comprising: a firewall comprising a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on a set of predetermined security rules, a gateway comprising a network node configured for interfacing with another network that uses different communication protocols; wherein the CTRM enterprise system is configured to implement a set of trade capture and pricing requirements for a metals commodity, wherein the CTRM enterprise system is configured to use a plurality of application server nodes to perform a plurality of tasks comprising: managing a complex quality-based contract pricing for the metals commodity; calculating and managing a complex formula-based contract penalty with respect to the quality-based contract pricing of the metals commodity; and implement a set of microservice modules that independently perform a set of microservice related to the quality-based contract pricing and the complex formula-based contract penalty of the metals commodity.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for environmental impact aware product refurbishing are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes obtaining information for products comprising images of the products and location-specific demand data; determining product embeddings of the products based on the images, wherein each of the product embeddings encodes attributes of the corresponding product; creating one or more refurbished designs of each given one of the products based on the initial image of the given product and one or more design constraints; calculating an environmental impact score and a demand impact score associated with each of the created refurbished designs, wherein the demand impact score is based on the location-specific demand data; generating a recommendation to refurbish at least one of the products in accordance with at least one of the refurbished designs based on the environmental impact scores and the demand impact scores.

A method and related software program for the purchasing,selling and exchanging of motor vehicle parts provides an efficient means to save customers money off the purchase of new parts and to effectively recycle old vehicle parts. In differing embodiments, the program may be software or a mobile application that allows a user to obtain the value of unneeded automobile parts. Further, the user can input a plurality of criteria related to the part in order to obtain the value, wherein third parties can also offer to buy the part.

A method for assessing a value of an investment portfolio is provided. The method includes: receiving first information that relates to the investment portfolio from an investor; receiving second information that relates to a pricing model that is used by a financial institution for pricing investment assets; calculating metrics that relate to an estimated value of the investment portfolio based on the first information and the second information; and determining an assessed value of the investment portfolio based on the calculated metrics. The method may be implemented by using a secure multiparty computation technique by which the investor and the financial institution provide sensitive information as inputs to an algorithm without revealing the sensitive information to each other, thereby preserving the privacy of both parties.

An agricultural method includes providing a positive air pressure chamber to prevent outside contaminants from entering the chamber; growing crops in a plurality of cells in the chamber, each cell having multi-grow benches or levels, each cell further having connectors to vertical hoists for vertical movements in the chamber; maintaining pre-set temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, watering and lighting levels to achieve predetermined plant growth; using motorized transport rails to deliver benches for operations including seeding, harvesting, grow media recovery, and bench wash; dispensing seeds in the cell with a mechanical seeder coupled to the transport rails; growing the crops with computer controlled nutrients, light and air level; and harvesting the crops and delivering the harvested crop at a selected outlet of the chamber.

Apparatus and associated methods relate to presenting for selection, services comprising at least one bundled set of healthcare services to be performed separately by respective providers, determining a bundle price for the at least one bundled set of healthcare services and in response to receiving payment in an amount of the bundle price, generating a persistent purchase data record with a unique confirmation number that is selectively redeemable by the user to receive each of the healthcare services in the bundled set. The bundle price may be discounted and/or based on the location or time at which at least one service will be performed. The bundle price may also be based on the user's remaining health insurance deductible. A single payment may be disbursed to multiple providers of the bundled set of healthcare services. The received and/or disbursed payment may be in virtual funds.

A method for processing a query for data stored in a distributed database includes receiving, at an edge device, the query for data stored in the distributed database from a query device. The method includes causing, by the edge device, the query to be stored on a dynamic ledger maintained by the distributed database. The method includes detecting, by the edge device, that summary data has been stored on the dynamic ledger. The method includes generating, by the edge device, an approximate response to the query based on the summary data stored on the dynamic ledger. The method includes transmitting, to the query device, the approximate response.

A system and a method for collecting and using market data. The system includes a workstation, where at least one message is entered, a transmitter, where the at least one message is transmitted, a parser for parsing the at least one message, a data recognizer for identifying relevant information in the at least one message, a processor for extracting the relevant information and a communicator for communicating the relevant information.

A server apparatus includes a controller configured to detect an item to be purchased, based on a temporal change in captured images of an item display position at a mobile shop and, upon acquiring authentication information for a purchaser from a first terminal apparatus, perform a charging process in respect of the purchaser for a price of the item.

A system for managing future costs associated with a product includes a future requirement system programmed to estimate an amount of resources required for manufacturing, distributing, and selling the product at a future point in time. The system includes an adverse contingency system configured to identify adverse contingencies and calculate changes in costs associated with obtaining the amount of resources at the future point in time. The system includes a smart contract system programmed to autonomously configure and execute a smart futures contract based on the amount of resources required and on the changes in costs to manage the future costs associated with the product