Kuwaiti housing legislation with emphasis on interior architecture based on space syntax, motivation and adaptation theories

From observational approaches to housing in Kuwait, it has been found that the people there are experiencing a housing crisis, specifically in interior architecture, as they are building and living in houses that do not fulfil their needs. This is evidenced by the fact that in a single year, almost every house owner in both private and governmental houses in Kuwait city has done two or three alterations, either adding a room or bathroom, enlarging a living room, or adding walls for privacy.For the above reasons, the aim of this study is to build a body of knowledge based on several theories, in order to enrich and improve the current Kuwaiti housing legislation with emphasis on interior architecture. By having access to authorized information, in theory Kuwaitis could improve their homes. This study therefore investigates theories such as Maslow's Motivation Theory that highlights the hierarchy of human needs, Adaptation theory to explore the cultural, social, and environmental adaptation processes humans experience within their houses, Space Syntax to provide a systematic approach to segregation and space integration within the house, and sustainability to provide guidelines for building houses that maintain the people's cultural values and house design traditions in a way that enriches their lives and well-being. In addition, this study focuses on planning and building legislation and the impact of neighbouring on the house design that in turn affects people's daily lives.This study begins by giving the reader a brief history of Kuwait and its urban development, along with the influence that the discovery of oil had on people's houses and their house design. This is followed by two parts: the first is the deductive part, which explores the theories outlined above, while the second is the inductive part and describes the author's empirical work in which extended interviews with open -ended questions were used to acquire data regarding people's feelings, problems and needs within their houses. The findings and conclusions from that work are presented together with recommendations for future housing design. The research findings and the deductive part of this study are then considered together to produce a framework which legislators and designers in Kuwait Municipality and the PAHC (Public Authority for Housing Care) could use to improve the current Kuwaiti housing legislation comprehensively, with emphasis on the interior architecture. In the conclusion a review of the main findings of the thesis is presented, together with a set of fundamental recommendations derived from the synthesis of the deductive and inductive parts of this research. The thesis concludes with a final message about the importance of interior architecture in the quality of people's lives

Generalized Dirichlet to Neumann operator on invariant differential forms and equivariant cohomology

In a recent paper, Belishev and Sharafutdinov consider a compact Riemannian manifold $M$ with boundary $\partial M$. They define a generalized Dirichlet to Neumann (DN) operator $\Lambda$ on all forms on the boundary and they prove that the real additive de Rham cohomology structure of the manifold in question is completely determined by $\Lambda$. This shows that the DN map $\Lambda$ inscribes into the list of objects of algebraic topology. In this paper, we suppose $G$ is a torus acting by isometries on $M$. Given $X$ in the Lie algebra of $G$ and the corresponding vector field $X_M$ on $M$, one defines Witten's inhomogeneous coboundary operator $d_{X_M} = d+\iota_{X_M}$ on invariant forms on $M$. The main purpose is to adapt Belishev and Sharafutdinov's boundary data to invariant forms in terms of the operator $d_{X_M}$ and its adjoint $\delta_{X_M}$. In other words, we define an operator $\Lambda_{X_M}$ on invariant forms on the boundary which we call the $X_M$-DN map and using this we recover the long exact $X_M$-cohomology sequence of the topological pair $(M,\partial M)$ from an isomorphism with the long exact sequence formed from our boundary data. We then show that $\Lambda_{X_M}$ completely determines the free part of the relative and absolute equivariant cohomology groups of $M$ when the set of zeros of the corresponding vector field $X_M$ is equal to the fixed point set $F$ for the $G$-action. In addition, we partially determine the mixed cup product (the ring structure) of $X_M$-cohomology groups from $\Lambda_{X_M}$. These results explain to what extent the equivariant topology of the manifold in question is determined by the $X_M$-DN map $\Lambda_{X_M}$. Finally, we illustrate the connection between Belishev and Sharafutdinov's boundary data on $\partial F$ and ours on $\partial M$.Comment: 21 page

THE EFFECT OF INTEGRATING MOOC’S ON SAUDI FEMALE STUDENTS’ LISTENING ACHIEVEMENT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on developing listening skills among Saudi EFL university students. To achieve this purpose, a listening was prepared and administered. Then, a MOOC was designed, programmed, and presented to the students to develop their listening skills. The sample of the research included forty level-one, English major students. They were randomly selected to be included in the experimental group (N=20) and the control group (N=20). Findings of the research revealed that the MOOC has been effective in the development of specific listening skills. The findings also revealed statistically significant differences between the post-test mean scores in all listening skills, namely, intensive, selective, and extensive which were in favor of the experimental group

The legal status of prisoners of war in Islamic law : assessment of its compatibility with the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war

Military confrontations in many parts of the world raise concerns regarding the treatment of prisoners of war. Whilst the regime of prisoners of war under international law is clearly codified in the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the treatment of prisoners of war, questions arise, particularly from western thinkers, regarding their treatment under Islamic law. This thesis attempts to fill this gap in the literature. The legal status of prisoners of war as presented in the Quran and Sunna and interpreted by prominent Islamic scholars is analysed and compared with the Geneva Convention provision is examined.The discussion begins in Chapter One with an examination of the context in which the issue of prisoner of war status arises. The concept and legitimacy of war are discussed and the rules of war, as well as relations between Islamic and non-Islamic States areexamined. In Chapter Two, the definition of the term 'prisoners of war' in each legal system is examined, and the classes of people excluded from the definition are considered. Chapter Three investigates the legal status of prisoners of war from the moment of capture, with reference to the coercion of prisoners of war to reveal military secrets protection inside the camps, the labour and financial status of prisoners of war,and the right to food and clothing, to communication with the outside world, to medical attention and to freedom of religious practice. There follows in Chapter Four a discussion of the ways in which capture may be terminated.The thesis shows that Islam provides for the just and humane treatment of prisoners of war and its rules are in general consistent with the provisions of international law. There are, however, some differences, such as the Islamic provision on enslavement attributable to differences in historical context. Such discrepancies however, have either been removed by changing custom, or can be resolved by analogy and by application of the general rules of just and humane treatment. There is, therefore, no reason why an Islamic country should not conform with the generally accepted principles of international law on the treatment of prisoners of war

Hydrogeological Properties of Groundwater in Karbala’a Governorate – Iraq

ان الهدف الرئيسي لدراسات المياه الجوفية هو تقييم الخصائص الفيزيائية للطبقات الحاملة للمياه الجوفية . درست الخصائص الهيدروجيولوجية والهيدروكيميائية للمياه الجوفية في محافظة كربلاء المقدسة الواقعة الى الجنوب الغربي من العراق حيث قسمت المكامن الجوفية في المنطقة الى المكمن المفتوح المكون من ترسبات العصر الرباعي وتكوين الدبدبة والمكمن المحصور المكون من تعاقب تكوينات الدمام والفرات والفتحة وانجانة ، حيث اشتملت التحريات على تحديد مواقع الابار وبعدد (117) يئراً ومناسيب المياه الجوفية وعمق وسمك المكامن الجوفية فضلاً عن التصريف البئري وعمليات الضخ الاختباري لمجموعة من الابار في المنطقة ، واعتماداً على الخصائص الهيدروجيولوجية والهيدروكيمائية المستحصلة نتيجة هذه التحريات تم تحديد المناطق المؤهلة لاستثمار المياه الجوفية منها حيث كانت المنطقة المؤهلة الاولى للمكمن المفتوح في الجزء الشمالي من المنطقة الوسطى من منطقة الدراسة فيما كانت المنطقة المؤهلة الثانية للمكمن المحصور في الجزء الشرقي من منطقة الدراسة .The mainly objective of groundwater studies is assessment the physical characterizations of water-bearing layers. The studied area located in southwest of Karbla’a city within Karbla’a Governorate in Midwest of Iraq. The aquifers were divided into two main units, the unconfined and confined aquifers. Depending on (117) wells, the two main aquifers were investigated during field work where geographical position, elevations, static water levels, depths, thicknesses, maximum yields as well as water sampling and pumping test have been carried out.  Unconfined aquifer mainly consists of Quaternary deposits and Dibdibba formation, while confined aquifer mainly consists of Dammam, Euphrates, Fatha and Injana Formations. Depending on hydrogeological and hydrochemical properties of both aquifers, promising zone for exploration of groundwater of unconfined aquifer located almost in the central part within the northeast part of the area, and eastern side of area for confined aquifer

The Impact of Urban Form Characteristics on Carbon Mitigation Process in Cities

Cities are the main emitters of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause the most dangerous phenomenon on the planet which is climate change. The research in how to reduce the effects of this phenomenon should have the priority especially by urban planners and designers. It is known that cities form just 2% of the total earth area but they consume more than 75% of the total energy and release more than 80% of GHGs. Although, there is a rich body of research to reduce carbon emissions from cities, the relationship between carbon mitigation process and urban form characteristics still needs more research work. So, the research gab that should be covered by this paper is; there is a need to address the role of urban form characteristics as a crucial factor in carbon mitigation process at a city scale. In other words, this research attempts to answer this main question:Can a link between carbon mitigation process and urban form characteristics be founded? This research aims to determine the relationship between the urban form characteristics and the carbon mitigation process in cities.Many cities have already made their carbon mitigation processes. This paper analyses and focuses on the urban form characteristics that have had an impact in the accounting and processing carbon emissions indirectly in these cities. So, this research needs to verify why these emissions in these particular areas are different based on our own thesis which is there are different urban form characteristics that affect the amount of emissions and the mitigation process required. To explain this impact, the research has analysed many cases of carbon mitigation processes in cities and has concentrated on the large cities in three main continents which are Asia, Europe and the North America.This research has analysed models, tools and techniques for urban carbon and energy modelling and has evaluated their relationship with cities’ urban forms. It has determined urban form characteristics by either studying urban form characteristics separately or studying the previous carbon mitigation efforts that mentioned some of urban form characteristics. This paper has presented the role of urban form characteristics in carbon mitigation process in the cities under review. It has identified common characteristics of urban form that are repeated as factors in plans and strategies of carbon mitigation. Keywords: Carbon mitigation process, urban form characteristics, greenhouse gases (GHGs), climate change