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Abstract This article presents a variationist analysis of verbs meaning “reside” in Ontario French. Four lexical variants are examined: demeurer, habiter, rester and vivre. Results reveal that rester is used most often by unrestricted speakers and least often by those whose use of French is restricted. Vivre is found frequently in the speech of restricted speakers. This result is attributed to intersystemic transfer from English, due to the similarities between vivre and the English verb live. Demeurer is used most often in the minority community of Pembroke. Finally, habiter is almost never used in Ontario French. In addition, variation is shown to be conditioned by lexical priming.

Abstract The present study examines the variable presence/absence of third person plural marking on French verbs in the speech of French immersion students. The analysis considers both linguistic and social factors that condition variation and compares results with those found for native speakers of French. The principle findings are that agreement marking in the speech of immersion students is comparable to that of native Francophones whose use of French is restricted. The only social factor found to condition variation is amount of French language schooling. Several linguistic factors condition variation. Some of these are also found in restricted native speaker French, while others are particular to the immersion students.

The potential doubling time (Tpot) is defined as the time necessary to double the number of proliferating tumor cells in the absence of spontaneous cell loss. Tpot is thought to be a better index of tumor proliferation than clinically observed tumour volume doubling time. The in vivo measurement of Tpot is a possible way to detect fast growing tumours which would be better controlled by accelerated radiotherapy. The published data demonstrate the feasibility and the safety of the technique. Large variations in Tpot values were observed in tumors with similar histology, indicating an accelerated proliferation rate in some tumors. There are technical difficulties related to intra-tumor heterogeneity, sample contamination by normal cells, and inter-laboratory variability, which question the biological interpretation of Tpot. Further studies are ongoing to establish whether the in vivo measurement of Tpot 1) provides information that is independent of the "classical" prognostic factors, and 2) allows the early recognition of the patients likely to benefit from accelerated treatment.