Strategic Planning and Management in Mid-sized Ontario Municipalities: What factors contribute to successful adoption and implementation of strategic plans?

This research report focuses on the use of strategic planning and management practices in mid-sized municipalities in Ontario. The paper analyzes the adoption of strategic plans as well as the implementation of strategic management practices to determine what factors contribute to successful adoption and implementation of strategic plans. Bryson (2010) indicated that “significant improvements in strategic planning practice will come when ‘it’ is widely understood in its richness as a managerial practice or set of practices – and not as some kind of fairly rigid recipe for producing standardized objects called strategic plans that somehow are meant to implement themselves” (p. S259). The research design consisted of a multi-stage review of qualitative facts from public documents. The primary focus of the first-stage was a high-level review of municipal websites for each of the 142 Ontario municipalities with populations ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 to determine the extent to which formal, strategic plans have been implemented. The second-stage expanded the data collection on a smaller subset of municipalities from the first-stage to evaluate the implementation success of strategic management practices as well as explore the inclusion of prioritization in strategic planning and management processes. The research results found that there is a high percentage of local governments adopting strategic plans. The results also highlighted that there is a low percentage of municipalities linking strategic plans to strategic management practices. The research identified the following five factors that may contribute to higher levels of strategic planning adoption and strategic management implementation: stakeholder involvement, strategic plan components, prioritization of strategies, alignment of resource allocation, and evaluation processes

Efficacy of a topically administered combination of emodepside and praziquantel against mature and immature Ancylostoma tubaeforme in domestic cats

This paper reports the efficacy of emodepside/praziquantel spot¿on (Profender®, Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany), a novel broadspectrum anthelmintic for dermal application, against L4 larvae and immature adult and adult stages of Ancylostoma tubaeforme in cats. The formulation contains 2.14% (w/w) emodepside and 8.58% (w/v) praziquantel, with emodepside being active against gastrointestinal nematodes and praziquantel against cestodes. Five randomized, blinded and controlled laboratory studies demonstrated 100% efficacy of emodepside/praziquantel spot¿on against mature A. tubaeforme and an efficacy of >95% and >97%, respectively, against L4 larvae and immature adults (based on worm counts after necropsy) at approximately the minimum proposed dose rate in cats of 3.0 mg emodepside and 12.0 mg praziquantel/kg body weight. No adverse reactions to the treatment were observed. It is concluded that emodepside/praziquantel spot¿on is an effective and safe treatment against infections with mature and immature A. tubaeforme. Emodepside/praziquantel spot¿on will considerably facilitate the treatment of cats against nematodes and cestodes compared with orally administered preparation

Comparative efficacy of two fipronil spot-on formulations against experimental tick infestations (Ixodes ricinus) in dogs

A parallel-group-design, randomized, unicentre and blinded controlled study was undertaken to assess the efficacy of a new fipronil-based spot-on formulation applied once to dogs against experimental Ixodes ricinus infestations. Six dogs served as negative controls (group 1), six dogs served as positive controls (group 2) receiving the original fipronil spot-on (Frontline® spot-on Dog, Merial) at a dosage of 0.67 mL for a dog weighing from 2 to 10 kg and 1.34 mL for a dog weighing from 10.1 to 20 kg and six dogs were treated with a 10% w/v fipronil-based spot-on solution (Effipro® Spot-on, Virbac SA) at an identical dosage (group 3, 0.67 mL for a dog weighing from 2 to 10 kg and 1.34 mL for a dog weighing from 10.1 to 20 kg). Each dog was sedated and subsequently infested with 50 unfed adult I. ricinus on days −7, −2, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35. Forty-eight hours after the treatment and 48 h after each challenge (days −5, 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and 37), the population of the remaining ticks was assessed for each animal. Geometric mean tick counts obtained were reduced by 99% and 94% on day 2 in groups 2 and 3, respectively, compared to the negative control group. Dogs were protected from re-infestations with an efficacy of >90% for 3 weeks in group 2 and for 5 weeks in group 3. Both 10% w/v fipronil-based spot-on solutions, despite different vehicles, were equally able to eradicate tick infestation, to prevent new infestations and were equally well tolerated

Factors affecting In vitro cultivation of Histomonas meleagridis isolated from eggs of Heterakis gallinarum and Histomonosis in turkeys

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industrie

Communication strategies exhibited by preschool children with hearing loss during outdoor free play in an integrated and a segregated educational setting

Master of EducationThis study investigated the communicative behaviour strategies exhibited by two preschool children with profound hearing loss during outdoor free play sessions at their integrated and segregated educational settings. The participants were investigated in terms of the particular play and non-play behaviours they engaged in; along with the communicative behaviours and communicative mode they exhibited during each interaction. The data collection process involved video taped footage analysed over 15- second intervals for a total of 60 minutes for each participant. The study was designed to give a description of the communicative behaviour strategies and communicative interaction mode used during play and non-play behaviours across the integrated and the segregated preschools. The results of the study suggested that more sophisticated forms of play behaviour; such as cooperative play are observed more often in the integrated setting. In the integrated setting join in communicative strategies were used more often, whereas greeting and inviting communicative behaviours were more frequently observed in the segregated setting. The visual communicative mode was the most often recorded communicative mode in the integrated setting. The main differences were in the amount of solitary play produced in the integrated setting, familiarity with hearing peers may have been a contributing factor to this result. Associative play was greater in the segregated setting and this may have been related to the activities the participants engaged in. Much of the play was based around the sandpit and riding tricycles. In addition, communicative behaviours differed mainly in the level of sharing and joining in behaviours that were demonstrated. The results suggest that sharing may have occurred more in the segregated setting due to the children being more familiar with each other. Join in behaviour strategies were greater in the integrated setting due to the participants gaining access by mainly using the visual interaction mode. Finally, the communicative interaction mode was slightly different across the two settings in the verbal, vocal and sound making mode. The setting also impacted upon the number of instances in which no interaction occurred at all. These results have implications for the management of the preschool outdoor environment in both integrated and segregated settings for children with hearing loss. The outcomes of this study also highlight important areas for further research