Women board members as a diversity tool for enhancing corporate governance and stakeholder value.

The continued failure of companies mainly with the majority of male board members prompted this research to establish the importance of board heterogeneity, the role of women board members, their characteristics and how their board presence can be utilised for improving corporate governance and stakeholder value.  This study derives from board composition which dictates that directors of substance should populate boards.  The debate on the utility value of women on boards was investigated using an interpretive enquiry.  Document review coupled with a semi-structured interview was administered to forty-two (42) respondents.  Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select respondents.  Results of the research showed that women are thinly populated in boards yet they are risk averse, prepare for meetings diligently, are objective, have integrity and are protective of the organisation.  The research recommends that bursaries and scholarships should be availed to women and girls so that they get chances to go through all levels of education and end up as managers, a step towards board membership.  The government of Zimbabwe should make sure that steps are taken to enforce the 50:50 principle in management and that to cascade to boards.  There should be advocacy for the need to infuse women leadership in all walks of life. Key words: Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, Women on Boards, NVivo, qualitative and Stakeholder Satisfaction

Longitudinal investigation of training status and cardiopulmonary responses in pre- and early-pubertal children

PurposeThe presence of a maturational threshold that modulates children’s physiological responses to exercise training continues to be debated, not least due to a lack of longitudinal evidence to address this question. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction between swim-training status and maturity in nineteen trained (T, 10 ± 1 years, −2.4 ± 1.9 years pre-peak height velocity, 8 boys) and fifteen untrained (UT, 10 ± 1 years, −2.3 ± 0.9 years pre-peak height velocity, 5 boys) children, at three annual measurements.MethodsIn addition to pulmonary gas exchange measurements, stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output ( Q˙) were estimated by thoracic bioelectrical impedance during incremental ramp exercise.ResultsAt baseline and both subsequent measurement points, trained children had significantly (P < 0.05) higher peak oxygen uptake (year 1 T 1.75 ± 0.34 vs. UT 1.49 ± 0.22; year 2 T 2.01 ± 0.31 vs. UT 1.65 ± 0.08; year 3 T 2.07 ± 0.30 vs. UT 1.77 ± 0.16 l min−1) and Q˙ (year 1 T 15.0 ± 2.9 vs. UT 13.2 ± 2.2; year 2 T 16.1 ± 2.8 vs. UT 13.8 ± 2.9; year 3 T 19.3 ± 4.4 vs. UT 16.0 ± 2.7 l min−1). Furthermore, the SV response pattern differed significantly with training status, demonstrating the conventional plateau in UT but a progressive increase in T. Multilevel modelling revealed that none of the measured pulmonary or cardiovascular parameters interacted with maturational status, and the magnitude of the difference between T and UT was similar, irrespective of maturational status.ConclusionThe results of this novel longitudinal study challenge the notion that differences in training status in young people are only evident once a maturational threshold has been exceeded

Deformation change in light iridium nuclei from laser spectroscopy

Laser spectroscopy measurements have been performed on neutron-deficient and stable Ir isotopes using the COMPLIS experimental setup installed at ISOLDE-CERN. The radioactive Ir atoms were obtained from successive decays of a mass-separated Hg beam deposited onto a carbon substrate after deceleration to 1kV and subsequently laser desorbed. A three-color, two-step resonant scheme was used to selectively ionize the desorbed Ir atoms. The hyperfine structure (HFS) and isotope shift (IS) of the first transition of the ionization path 5d^{7}6s ^{2}^{4}F_{9/2} \to 5d^{7}6s6p ^{6}F_{11/2} at 351.5nm were measured for $^{182-189}$Ir, $^{186}Ir^{m}$ and the stable $^{191,193}$Ir. The nuclear magnetic moments μI and the spectroscopic quadrupole moments Qs were obtained from the HFS spectra and the change of the mean square charge radii from the IS measurements. The sign of μI was experimentally determined for the first time for the masses 182≤A≤189 and the isomeric state $^{186}Ir^ m$ . The spectroscopic quadrupole moments of $^{182}$Ir and $^{183}$Ir were measured also for the first time. A large mean square charge radius change between $^{187}$Ir and $^{186}Ir^g$ and between $^{186}Ir^m$ and $^{186}Ir ^g$ was observed corresponding to a sudden increase in deformation: from β2 ≃ + 0.16 for the heavier group A = 193, 191, 189, 187 and 186m to β2 ≥ + 0.2 for the lighter group A = 186g, 185, 184, 183 and 182. These results were analyzed in the framework of a microscopic treatment of an axial rotor plus one or two quasiparticle(s). This sudden deformation change is associated with a change in the proton state that describes the odd-nuclei ground state or that participates in the coupling with the neutron in the odd-odd nuclei. This state is identified with the π3/2+[402] orbital for the heavier group and with the π1/2-[541] orbital stemming from the 1h _9/2 spherical subshell for the lighter group. That last state seems to affect strongly the observed values of the nuclear moments

Influence of training status and exercise modality on pulmonary O2 uptake kinetics in pre-pubertal girls

The limited available evidence suggests that endurance training does not influence the pulmonary oxygen uptake (V(O)(2)) kinetics of pre-pubertal children. We hypothesised that, in young trained swimmers, training status-related adaptations in the V(O)(2) and heart rate (HR) kinetics would be more evident during upper body (arm cranking) than during leg cycling exercise. Eight swim-trained (T; 11.4 +/- 0.7 years) and eight untrained (UT; 11.5 +/- 0.6 years) girls completed repeated bouts of constant work rate cycling and upper body exercise at 40% of the difference between the gas exchange threshold and peak V(O)(2). The phase II V(O)(2) time constant was significantly shorter in the trained girls during upper body exercise (T: 25 +/- 3 vs. UT: 37 +/- 6 s; P < 0.01), but no training status effect was evident in the cycle response (T: 25 +/- 5 vs. UT: 25 +/- 7 s). The V(O)(2) slow component amplitude was not affected by training status or exercise modality. The time constant of the HR response was significantly faster in trained girls during both cycle (T: 31 +/- 11 vs. UT: 47 +/- 9 s; P < 0.01) and upper body (T: 33 +/- 8 vs. UT: 43 +/- 4 s; P < 0.01) exercise. The time constants of the phase II V(O)(2)and HR response were not correlated regardless of training status or exercise modality. This study demonstrates for the first time that swim-training status influences upper body V(O)(2) kinetics in pre-pubertal children, but that cycle ergometry responses are insensitive to such differences

Charge-radius change and nuclear moments in the heavy tin isotopes from laser spectroscopy: Charge radius of 132^{132}Sn

NESTER ACCLaser spectroscopy measurements have been carried out on the neutron-rich tin isotopes with the COMPLIS experimental setup. Using the $5s^25p^2$ $^3P_0 \rightarrow 5s^25_p6s$ $^3P_1$ optical transition, hyperfine spectra of $^{126-132}$Sn and $^{125,127,129-131}Sn^m$ were recorded for the first time. The nuclear moments and the mean square charge radius variation ($\delta) were extracted. From the quadrupole moment values, these nuclei appear to be spherical. The magnetic moments measured are thus compared with those predicted by spherical basis approaches. From the measured$\delta, the absolute charge radii of these isotopes were deduced in particular that of the doubly magic $^{132}$Sn nucleus. The comparison of the results with several mean-field-type calculations have shown that dynamical effects play an important role in the tin isotopes