Sample abstracts

(written by native speakers of English)

IEEE Communications Magazine, February 2003

Optical packet switching promises to bring the flexibility and efficiency of the Internet to transparent optical networking with bit rates extending beyond that currently available with electronic router technologies. New optical signal processing techniques have been demonstrated that enable routing at bit rates from 10 Gb /s to beyond 40 Gb /s. In this article we review these signal processing techniques and how all-optical wavelength converter technology can be used to implement, packet switching functions. Specific approaches that utilize ultra-fast all-optical nonlinear fiber wavelength converters and monolithically integrated optical wavelength converters are discussed and research results presented.

Language Culture & Curriculum. Volume, 14 No 2, 2001. Special Issue: French Education in Canada

In this paper, we examine the language practices in three immigrant families of South Asian ancestry who reside in Canada and have chosen French Immersion education for their children. Basing our discussion on interview data, we present a profile of the inter- and infra-generational language interactions that distinguish each family. Also, we describe their reasons for maintaining their family language and their interest in French Immersion. The findings reveal that parents adopt language maintenance strategies that vary from one family to another and they attribute value to French and English as official languages of the country and important languages internationally. Drawing on sociocultural theories of language learning, we argue that these parents support, language maintenance and opt for French Immersion education as part of a family project aimed at developing child multilingualism. Multilingualism is viewed as a means of securing advantages for their offspring nationally and internationally.