Browsing by Author "Al-Najadah, Ali Saleh"

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    Attitudes of interior design students toward creativity in design problem solving using CADD versus conventional drafting tools
    Al-Najadah, Ali Saleh (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1989)
    This study was conducted to explore interior design students' perceptions and attitudes toward creativity in design problem solving using CADD versus conventional drafting tools and to research whether CADD stifles or encourages students' creativity in that manner. Students' level of CADD perf onnance, past experience with CADD or other microcomputer software and level of CADD problems were used as the independent variables for this study. During the last two weeks of the spring semester 1989, 32 interior design students, who comprised the population for this study, were given two design problems, one to be done with CADD and the other with conventional drafting tools. After that period students were asked to fill out a survey questionnaire and participate in a group discussion. The collected data then was a subject of a descriptive and analytical statistical study. Findings of this study showed no relationship between students' level of CADD experience and their attitudes toward using CADD in creative design problem solving. On the other hand, a significant relationship was found between the level of CADD problems that students had and their attitudes toward CADD. As a result, although students liked using CADD in design and 78% of them did not feel intimidated by it, more than 65% of the students felt that they could come up with more design ideas with conventional drafting tools than with CADD. Most of the students attributed this attitude to their long experience with design and drafting tools. Other problems that caused discomfort to students when using CADD in design were lack of knowledge of DOS commands, unfamiliarity with computer hardware and software problems, and their limited time to work on computers.
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    The impact of oil-related pollution on housing satisfaction of Kuwaiti households
    Al-Najadah, Ali Saleh (Virginia Tech, 1996-05-07)
    The 1991 oil fires that were set by the Iraqis as they retreated from Kuwait during the Gulf War are still considered the worst and biggest oil fires in the history of the world. An initial study was conducted in 1992 to investigate the negative effects of the pollution caused by the oil fires on the socio-psychological values of housing and the cultural meanings of home and homeownership of Kuwaiti households. In 1994, a follow-up study was conducted to examine how time between the two studies and treatments of residential interiors and exteriors might have affected Kuwaiti households' perceptions regarding the negative effects of ORP on the socio-psychological values of housing, cultural meanings of home and homeownership, and housing satisfaction. Three-hundred and forty-seven non-smoking and non-institutionalized Kuwaiti household members participated in the follow-up study. Only eighty-nine of the participants in the follow-up study has also participated in the initial study. All the participants were 18 years or older, and were randomly selected from 60 different cities and suburbs in Kuwait. Six trained interviewers collected the data via telephone using survey questionnaires constructed specifically for that purpose. A comparison of frequencies and percentages from both the initial and the follow-up studies showed that more than two-thirds of the participants continued to be very concerned about the unclear hazardous effects of ORP on their health and safety and the health and safety of their family members. There was a decrease in the negative effects of ORP on most of the socio-psychological values of housing and cultural meanings of home and homeownership. The overall housing satisfaction of Kuwaiti households with their contaminated homes remained high. It was concluded from this study that only time and treatment of residential interiors had significant influence on Kuwaiti households’ perceptions about the negative effects of ORP on the housing values, cultural meanings of home and homeownership, and housing satisfaction. The implications of this study could be beneficial mainly to Kuwaiti households who wish to solve their housing problems caused by ORP; to the Kuwaiti government to seek, through the United Nations, financial compensations from Iraq; and to Kuwait University and Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to expand their research base and investigate the best methods to remedy the problem of ORP in the Kuwaiti residential environment.