sense of my many shortcomings from my own ideals and from the high standard set before me by the fourteen Presidents under whom I have sat since I joined this Society in 1888. My tenure of office has coincided with what may be called a period of reconstruction following on the suspension of our activities for five years owing to the Great War. This reconstruction, or resuscitation, after such a...

my name to the list of your Presidents will endure as long as this Society itself. Again would I express my heartfelt thanks, all the more because exceptional circumstances are connected therewith. In your choice of President you went far afield. For better or for worse, after my transference from Edinburgh to Aberdeen thirty-four years ago, my connection with the Society dwindled into that of ...

It is a matter of great pleasure for me to extend, on behalf of the ICAR and on my personal behalf, a warm welcome to all, especially to our very distinguished delegates who have traveled from various parts of the world to participate in the Conference. I am glad to share with you that the Conference is being held at a time when our Central Institute on Buffalo Research has completed 25 years o...

Let me first give expression to my very deep sense of the honour you have done me, in making me a Doctor of Laws of this great University, now in the hundredth year of its activity for higher education and research in Northern Ireland. You may be assured that I value very highly indeed the distinction which you have thus conferred. You have honoured me further by asking me, as my first act as h...

Gentlemen, my period of office has now come to an end, and, before vacating this Chair in favour of the distinguished surgeon whom you have elected as my successor, I desire to express to you, as I did when you elected me, my most sincere and grateful thanks for the honour you did me in electing me your President. I would also like to thank the members of the Society for the kind consideration ...

A great number of abstracts has been submitted and the Paper Selection Committee, chaired by Dr. Peter Stenvinkel, has worked hard to choose the best abstracts for presentation as oral communications or posters. Compared with previous ERA-EDTA congresses, the number of oral communications will be increased; furthermore morning and afternoon poster sessions will take place without any other para...

Gentlemen,?My first duty is the pleasant one of thanking you very heartily for the honour you did me this time last year in electing me your President. It is not an easy task to fill worthily the Chair which has been occupied by so many distinguished obstetricians ; and I feel this the more because we are just entering upon the fiftieth session of this Society, and if we follow the many precede...

Nishimura (2003) first pointed out that in Japanese loanwords, voiced geminates devoice optionally when they co-occur with another voiced obstruent i.e. when they violate OCP(voice) (e.g. /baggu/ → [bakku] ‘bag’). This devoicing of geminates has been used to make several theoretical claims in the recent phonological literature. However, these claims have so far largely been based on intuition-b...

Two very special days in the life and history of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, are nearing conclusion. At the end of such a Bicentenary Scientific Meeting, it may seem that "all has been said". Indeed the best of modem medicine has been presented by past and present members of staff and by our distinguished guests. The audience has been informed, educated and entertained by the excellen...