Abstract: Although housing horses in single stalls limits their natural behavior to a great extent, this housing system is widespread in Germany, especially for competition horses. To improve the welfare of this system, free exercise on pastures or paddocks is deemed suitable, but it is also feared because of injuries and decreased willingness or motivation to perform. In the present study, three treatments were investigated with regard to their effect on the behavior of six competition horses in the stable, behavior during training, and on their degree of stress: daily training without free exercise (no turnout [NT]), solitary turnout for 2 hours after training, and 2-hour turnout in groups of two after training (group turnout). The horses' behavior in the stable was continuously analyzed through video recordings (2 pm to 6 am) on 3 days at the end of each treatment. The degree of stress was evaluated daily by heart rate variability at rest. The behavior during training was evaluated by a questionnaire answered by the riders, and the distance covered during training was measured by global positioning system. When NT was allowed, the horses showed less lying in the stable compared with the treatments with turnout. Heart rate variability measurements resulted in great individual differences, but generally, there was a higher degree of stress shown with the treatment NT according to the following parameters: standard deviation of inter-beat-intervals (SDNN), square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between successive inter-beat-intervals (RMSSD), and ratio between low frequency and high frequency (LF/HF). The willingness to perform was evaluated as being slightly better in the treatments with turnout than in the treatment without turnout.

Abstract: Group turnout provides important socializing opportunities for horses, particularly those that are primarily stalled. A high percentage of equine injuries occur during group turnout, which could partly be due to the physical constraints of fencing. To investigate appropriate paddock sizes for group turnouts, horses (n = 12) from a single herd were divided into groups of 4, stalled for 24 hours, and then turned out for 1 hour into one of three differently sized pens: 342, 263, and 184 m2 per horse. Groups rotated through pens across 3 days, receiving one treatment per day. Blood was sampled for cortisol concentrations at 08:00 hours each morning, and then at 15 and 60 minutes into the turn out sessions, and 60 minutes after return to individual stalls. Groups rotated through three turnout times: 09:00, 12:00, 14:00 hours. Counts of agonistic behaviors (chasing, contact biting, and kicking) and low-level threats (pinned ears, tail swishing, bite and kick threats) were recorded. When turned out in pens that provided 342 m2 per horse, horses exhibited reduced plasma cortisol concentrations by 15 minutes after turnout and at 1 hour after return to their stalls (P < .05). Horses in pens providing 184 m2 per horse exhibited greater agonistic (P < .001) and low-level threat (P < .01) behaviors than horses in larger pens. These data provide insight into appropriate pen sizes for horses from established herds. Providing at least 342 m2 per horse may reduce the chance of injury in horses accustomed to group turnout.

Abstract: The work of innovation management involves cross-functional coordination among specialists and managers with different work orientations, time horizons, professional backgrounds, and values (Ford and Randolph, 1992). While strong connections across functions are critical for new product development success (Green et al., 2000), some managers may be more adept at fostering effective cross-functional relationships than others. In this article, the authors empirically examine the factors that distinguish reputationally effective innovation workers from their less effective peers. Drawing on the work of Tsui (1984, 1994), reputational effectiveness is defined as the degree to which a manager has been responsive to the needs and expectations of constituents. This research examines the relational skills and interaction patterns of more (versus less) reputationally effective managers. A large business unit of a Fortune 500 telecommunications firm provided the context for our study. Using a two-phase approach, the authors first captured the social network patterns of 268 managers from marketing, research and development (R&D), manufacturing, and other business functions that were involved in the new product development process. In addition, the reputational effectiveness of each person who was identified as a member of the network was measured. In the second phase, the authors examined the relational competencies (e.g., role-taking ability, interpersonal control, openness) of the managers who participated in Phase I of the research. As predicted, the results indicate that role-taking ability is related positively to a manager's reputational effectiveness. No support, however, was found for the relationship between interpersonal control and reputational effectiveness. Interestingly, the authors found evidence of an inverse relationship between openness and effectiveness. By sharing too much information?or alternatively information that does not relate to the task at hand?the reputational effectiveness of a manager is damaged. Importantly, the results reveal that the social network characteristics of a reputationally effective manager differ from those of less effective managers. Closeness centrality, a measure of the degree of access one has to other organizational members, was associated strongly with reputational effectiveness. The results demonstrate that managers who are successful in working across functions appreciate the cognitive and emotional perspectives of diverse constituents and develop relationship ties that provide them with ready access to others across the organization.

Abstract: An immunoglobulin G (IgG) was spray-dried on a Büchi 190 laboratory spray-dryer at inlet and outlet air temperatures of 130 and 190°C, respectively. The IgG solution contains initially 115mg/ml IgG plus 50mg/ml sorbitol. After dialysis, at least 80% of low molecular weight component was removed. After spray-drying the dialyzed IgG and immediate redissolution of the powder, an increase in aggregates from 1 to 17% occurred. A major shift towards increase β-sheet structure was detected in the spray-dried solid, which, however, reverted to native structure on redissolution of the powder. A correlation between aggregation determined by size exclusion chromatography and alterations in secondary structure determined by Fourier transformation infra-red spectroscopy could not therefore be established. On spray-drying a non-dialyzed, sorbitol-containing IgG only some 0.7% aggregates were formed. The sorbitol is therefore evidently able to stabilize partially the IgG during the process of spray-drying. Addition of trehalose to the liquid feed produced quantitatively the same stabilizing action on the IgG during spray-drying as did the sorbitol. This finding again points towards a water replacement stabilization mechanism. The IgG spray-dried powder prepared from the dialyzed liquid feed showed continued substantial aggregation on dry storage at 25°C. This was substantially less in the non-dialyzed, sorbitol-containing spray-dried powder. Addition of trehalose to both dialyzed and non-dialyzed system produced substantial improvement in storage stability and reduction in aggregate formation in storage. The quantitative stabilizing effect of the trehalose was only slightly higher than that of the sorbitol. Taken together, these results indicate that both the sorbitol and trehalose stabilize the IgG primarily by a water replacement mechanism rather than by glassy immobilization. The relevance of this work is its questioning of the importance of the usually considered dominance of glassy stabilization of protein in dried systems of high glass transition temperature, such as trehalose. The low glass transition temperature sorbitol produces almost equal process and storage stability in this case.