As cultures are mainly divided into collectivistic and individualistic, members tend to emphasize, through communication, either their position as part of their group or their independence from the group. This emphasis is manifested in using the pragmatic concepts of positive politeness and negative politeness. The present study looks into the reflection of these two cultures in Rockstar’s renowned video game, Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). It aims at identifying the two cultures as present in the game and showing their significance to its narrative. It fills the gap in the studies of language used within video games as well as its cultural reflections. The study addresses the following question: What are the positive and negative politeness strategies used in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), and what are the implications of using these strategies in its narrative? By adopting Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, the researcher analyzed the positive and negative politeness used in the scripted dialogue of the in-game cutscenes through the mixed methods approach. The researcher hypothesized that the protagonist shows adherence to a collectivistic culture using positive politeness, and he begins transitioning towards an individualistic culture using negative politeness. The results showed that 75% of the protagonist’s interactions contained positive politeness while only 25% contained negative politeness. This transition explains the protagonist’s loss of trust and loyalty to his group as he begins to witness the futility of maintaining such loyalty. It also supports the overall narrative of the game as well as its cultural foundations.
Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) could be regarded as a set of chronic metabolic disorders which have a common aspect of hyperglycemia. The resistance in the peripheral actions of insulin or impaired insulin secretion could be the reason hepcidin which is a peptide hormone derived from liver, in systemic iron homeostasis is an essential regulator, and its lopsided production participates in the pathogenesis of iron disorders in spectrum. Osteoporosis often accompanies many diseases like ß-thalassemia, hemochromatosis, sickle liver diseases, cell disease and hemosiderosis featured by iron overload, evidences suggest that Iron overload and iron deficiency are suggested by evidences that they affect bone in a negative way, acting
... Show MoreEndothelin-I (ET-I) is one of the potent vasoconstrictors secreted from endothelial cells when needed. Many studies revealed the elevation of serum ET-I with human diabetes and microangiopathies. Since insulin resistance is a case of mixed diabetic and pre-diabetic cases, many risk factors beyond obesity and inflammation are proposed. The current study aims to demonstrate the association between serum ET-I and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sera of 73 subjects were enrolled currently (control= 35 subjects, and 38 with T2DM for more than 7 years), aged (40-60) years old, with distinct body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 for control volunteers and (BMI) ≥ 25 for obesity and diabetes
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus (DM) could be regarded as a set of chronic metabolic disorders which have a common aspect of hyperglycemia. The resistance in the peripheral actions of insulin or impaired insulin secretion could be the reason hepcidin which is a peptide hormone derived from liver, in systemic iron homeostasis is an essential regulator, and its lopsided production participates in the pathogenesis of iron disorders in spectrum. Osteoporosis often accompanies many diseases like ß-thalassemia, hemochromatosis, sickle liver diseases, cell disease and hemosiderosis featured by iron overload, evidences suggest that Iron overload and iron deficiency are suggested by evidences that they affec
... Show MoreThe present work aims to study the efficiency of using aluminum refuse, which is available locally (after dissolving it in sodium hydroxide), with different coagulants like alum [Al2 (SO4)3.18H2O], Ferric chloride FeCl3 and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) to improve the quality of water. The results showed that using this coagulant in the flocculation process gave high results in the removal of turbidity as well as improving the quality of water by precipitating a great deal of ions causing hardness. From the experimental results of the Jar test, the optimum alum dosages are (25, 50 and 70 ppm), ferric chloride dosages are (15, 40 and 60 ppm) and polyaluminum chloride dosages were (10, 35 and 55 ppm) for initial water turbidity (100, 500 an
... Show MoreThe European Unit has never been affected by a serious phenomena as the phenomena of the advancing of the far right parties. Though these parties vary in their impact in their original countries, they agree on one important issue which is the deconstruction of the European unit and limiting its supernational powers. These increasing popular parties aim at more national independence in decision making away from the decisions taken by Brussels. Moreover, they criticize the financial and administrative corruption accompanied many of the rescuing procedures directed for example towards countries like Greece and Spain during the international economic crisis. This failure nourishes many of the negative feelings against the European unit which
... Show MoreWorldwide, hundreds of millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 since December 2019; however, about 20% or less developed severe symptoms. The main aim of the current study was to assess the relationship between the severity of Covid-19 and different clinical and laboratory parameters. A total number of 466 Arabs have willingly joined this prospective cohort. Out of the total number, 297 subjects (63.7%) had negative COVID-19 tests, and thus, they were recruited as controls, while 169 subjects (36.3%) who tested positive for COVID-19 were enrolled as cases. Out of the total number of COVID-19 patients, 127 (75.15%) presented with mild symptoms, and 42 (24.85%) had severe symptoms. The age range for the partic
... Show MoreThe novel has recently received great attention from readers and before them writers, due to the role it is playing, and this indicates an important rule, which is whenever there is art or creativity, there must be a criticism of its own, and this criticism is certainly no less important than its owner, so we find There are critics who have their distinguished literary position in following up the narrative development, and trying to describe the transformation of its elements, including Professor Fadel Thamer, and whoever wants to approach an element of the novel as an explorer, he must stand on the visions of this critic about it, and this is what made us take the element (personality) Tracking the most important opinions of the critic
... Show MoreBackground: Skull secondary tumors are malignant bone tumors which are increasing in incidence.Objective: The objectives of this study were to present clinical features , asses the outcome of patients with secondary skull tumors ,characterize the MRI features, locations, and extent of secondary skull tumors to determine the frequency of the symptomatic disease.Type of the study: This is a prospective study.Methods: This is a prospective study from February 2000 to February 2008. The patients were selected from five neurosurgical centers and one oncology hospital in Baghdad/Iraq. The inclusion criteria were MRI study of the head(either as an initial radiological study or following head CT scan when secondary brain tumor is suspected , vis
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