Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Passive solar design is a building design strategy that uses a building's components—walls, floors, windows, and orientation—to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. Unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.

The Finite Volume Method (FVM) is a dominant numerical technique in CFD for solving partial differential equations. It discretizes the domain into a mesh of control volumes and applies the governing equations in their integral form to each volume. By converting volume integrals to surface integrals using the divergence theorem, it focuses on calculating the flux of conserved properties across cell faces.

Concurrent engineering, also known as simultaneous engineering, is a design philosophy that emphasizes the parallelization of tasks. Instead of a sequential process where design is completed before manufacturing is considered, it involves a team-based approach where designers, manufacturing engineers, and other stakeholders work together from the outset. This overlap significantly reduces product development time and improves design quality.

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic methodology for evaluating the environmental impacts associated with all stages of a product's life. This "cradle-to-grave" or "cradle-to-cradle" analysis considers raw material extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair, maintenance, and final disposal or recycling. It quantifies inputs like energy and raw materials and outputs like emissions to air, water, and soil.

Biomimicry is an innovation approach that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies. The core idea is that nature, through 3.8 billion years of evolution, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. It involves observing and learning from the designs and processes of organisms and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs.

The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) platform model is a technological and business framework that directly connects individuals to transact with each other, bypassing traditional intermediaries. In the sharing economy, these platforms facilitate the exchange of goods, services, or capital. They typically provide the underlying infrastructure, including search functionalities, payment processing systems, and crucial reputation and trust-building mechanisms.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a widely used market research metric that measures customer loyalty and their willingness to engage in word-of-mouth marketing. It is based on a single survey question: "How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?" The score is calculated as the percentage of "Promoters" minus the percentage of "Detractors."

The use of computer systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. CAD software allows product designers and engineers to create precise 2D and 3D models, replacing manual drafting. This technology dramatically increases productivity, improves the quality of design, and facilitates better communication through detailed visualizations and simulations.

Molecular electronics explores using individual molecules or nanoscale molecular collections as fundamental electronic components. This approach aims to build circuits at the ultimate limit of miniaturization, far beyond traditional silicon-based technology. Key components include molecular wires, switches, and rectifiers, leveraging quantum mechanical properties like electron tunneling through molecular orbitals for their function.

A design methodology where 'X' represents a specific product life cycle objective. DFX encompasses a collection of guidelines and techniques aimed at optimizing a product's design for a particular goal, such as manufacturability (DFM), assembly (DFA), reliability (DFR), or sustainability (DfS). This proactive approach addresses potential issues early in the design phase, reducing costs and improving quality.

A design philosophy and iterative process where the needs, wants, and limitations of end-users are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. UCD aims to create products that are highly usable and accessible by involving users throughout the design cycle through research, testing, and feedback, rather than relying solely on designer assumptions.

Viral marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message from person to person. It is a form of amplified word-of-mouth, often facilitated by the internet.

The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) model is a business strategy where a company manufactures and ships its products directly to buyers, bypassing traditional intermediaries like wholesalers or retailers. This approach primarily leverages e-commerce platforms and digital marketing to establish a direct relationship with the end consumer, enabling greater control over branding, customer experience, and pricing structures.

Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) is a design philosophy that models human industry on nature's processes. It views materials as "nutrients" circulating in closed-loop systems. The framework distinguishes between two cycles: the biological cycle, for biodegradable materials that can safely return to the soil, and the technical cycle, for materials that are continuously reused or upcycled in industrial processes without losing quality.

General relativity predicts that accelerating masses generate ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves. These waves propagate outwards at the speed of light, carrying energy as gravitational radiation. They are created by cataclysmic cosmic events like the merger of black holes or neutron stars, causing spacetime to stretch and squeeze as they pass.