The speech act of refusals has been studied widely either alone or in relation to such areas as apology, requests, promotion, and invitation. The present study aims to investigate the strategies employed by Iraqi females in refusing marriage proposals. It attempts to explore their preferences to respond directly or indirectly in relation to their ages and educational background of the parents. The sample of the study consists of 25 participants; they are learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at the College of Education for Women/ University of Baghdad. The data are collected by using a discourse completion task (DCT) followed by a follow up interview. The researchers used a Google form shared via emails to get responses from the participants. The items of the completion task are mainly designed by the researchers after surveying the literature so as to have the situations in the final shape. Beebe’s et al. (1990) taxonomy is selected as the most comprehensive modal for the analysis of refusal strategies of the respondents. The results indicated that the Iraqi females tend to use more indirect strategies to refuse the marriage proposals. The most frequently used order of responses began with an apology followed by gratitude and then the reason for refusal, as a typical Iraqi way of expressing their refusal. Based on the fact that the study sample are EFLs, there were signs of pragmatic failure as some of the responses carry some negative transfer, thus, the researchers recommend that future studies have to focus on teaching the methods of refusing appropriately by incorporating the teaching of speech acts, including the speech act of refusals, with more details in their Bachelor Program.
The consumption of fresh fruits has increased nowadays due to the lifestyle of the consumers. Maintaining the quality and nutritional value of cut fruits during storage is difficult compared to whole fruits. Deterioration of internal and external quality usually occurs in freshly harvested fruits. It is necessary to use different techniques to maintain the quality and increase the shelf life of the freshly cut product. This research studied the effect of treating apple slices with cold plasma once and with filtered water again on quality characteristics (hardness, moisture content, sugar content, carbohydrate content, and color) after being stored for five days. The best treatment was determined using two different pressures of the plasma j
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Recent phosphorus (P) pollution in the United States, mainly in Maine, has raised some severe concerns over the use of P fertilizer application rates in agriculture. Phosphorus is the second most limiting nutrient after nitrogen and has damaging impacts on crop yield if found to be deficient. Therefore, farmers tend to apply more P than is required to satisfy any P loss after its application at planting. Several important questions were raised in this study to improve P efficiency and reduce its pollution. The objective of this study was to find potential reasons for P pollution in water bodies despite a decrease in potato acreage. Historically, the potato was found to be responsible for P water contamination due to its high P sensitivity a
... Show MoreThis work is concerned with a two stages four beds adsorption chiller utilizing activated carbon-methanol adsorption pair that operates on six separated processes. The four beds that act as thermal compressors are powered by a low grade thermal energy in the form of hot water at a temperature range of 65 to 83 °C. As well as, the water pumps and control cycle consume insignificant electrical power. This adsorption chiller consists of three water cycles. The first water cycle is the driven hot water cycle. The second cycle is the cold water cycle to cool the carbon, which adsorbs the methanol. Finally, the chilled water cycle that is used to overcome the building load. The theoretical results showed that average cycle cooling power
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The irony pushes us to inquire about what is in the text of contradiction, irony, suspense, and other acts of paradox, as well as a departure from what is logical, or familiar, that attracts the attention of the addressee, and this is what drives us to introspect the text and interrogate it in order to get to know the intended product of the text or its real or metaphorical intent. On the other hand, the irony is more in the literary text than in the scientific texts. Therefore, critics add the word literature to it in their definition.
As it is represented by the paradox, we will seek to study the paradox of the title and the problematic that it may pose as the beginning of the text, and i
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This study unveils the ideologies of women empowerment encoded in the Mona Lisa Smile movie (2003). It reveals how the stereotypical image of women born only to be wives and do the duties of upbringing and housework is challenged. Katherine Ann Watson (Julia Roberts), the main character in the movie, wants to make a difference in the next generation of women. She rejects the imposed traditional ideologies. Linguistically, she opposes conventional thinking and seeks to persuade her students that life is about more than getting married. The primary focus of this study is to examine and clarify how the characters’ linguistic choices convey their ideologies concerning the notion of women empowerment. To do this, the researchers apply
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Lafutidine (LAF) a newly developed histamine H2-receptor antagonist with absorption window makes it a good candidate to be prepared as floating drug delivery system. The current study involves formulation and in- Vitro evaluation of lafutidine as floating microspheres. Different formulation variables that affect the physicochemical properties of the prepared microspheres besides to the drug release behavior were investigated. Fourteen formulas were prepared by emulsion (o/w) solvent evaporation method using Ethyl cellulose (EC) as the polymeric matrix and tween 80 (TW80) as an emulsifying agent. The prepared formulas were evaluated for their percentage buoyancy (%), Percentage yield (%) and Entrapment efficiency (EE %). The results obt
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