An ordinal game theory approach to the analysis and selection of partners in public:Private partnership projects

Nowadays, public–private partnership projects have become a standard for delivering public services in both developed and developing countries. In this paper, we are concerned with the analysis of private sector proposals and the selection of the private sector partner to whom to award the contract. To the best of our knowledge, this problem has not been addressed within a game theory framework. To fill this gap, we model this decision problem as a static non-cooperative game of complete information and propose a new ordinal game theory algorithm for finding an optimal generalized Nash equilibrium. The proposed algorithm determines a single ranking of proposals or bidders that takes account of multiple performance criteria and reflects both the public sector and the private sector perspectives, and can handle any number of private sector players and any number of contractual terms. An illustrative scenario is provided to guide the reader through the workings of the proposed ordinal game theory algorithm. The proposed ordinal game theory-based analysis framework can be used by the private sector to analyse any set of potential proposals most likely to be submitted by bidders and to assist with the choice of bidding strategies, and by the public sector player to analyse any set of potential proposals most likely to be submitted under any set of contractual terms and to assist with the choice of a realistic set of contractual terms and their performance measures

Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of triterpenes isolated from leaves of Maytenus undata (Celastraceae)

BACKGROUND: Plants of the genus Maytenus belong to the family Celastraceae and are widely used in folk medicine as anti-tumour, anti-asthmatic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anti-ulcer agents, and as a treatment for stomach problems. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify active compounds with antifungal activity from Maytenus undata after a preliminary study highlighted promising activity in crude extracts. METHODS: Sequential extracts of M. undata leaves prepared using hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), acetone and methanol (MeOH) were tested for activity against Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungal organism implicated in opportunistic infections. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the hexane extract using C. neoformans as test organism was carried out to isolate antifungal compounds. The cytotoxicity of compounds isolated in sufficient quantities was evaluated using a tetrazolium-based colorimetric cellular assay (MTT) and a haemagglutination assay (HA). RESULTS: The hexane extract was most active with an MIC of 20 μg/ml against C. neoformans. The triterpene compounds friedelin (1), epifriedelanol (2), taraxerol (3), 3-oxo-11α-methoxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (4), 3-oxo-11α-hydroxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (5) and 3,11-dihydroxyolean-12-ene-30-oic acid (6) were isolated. Compound 6 was isolated for the first time from a plant species. The antimicrobial activity of compounds 1, 3, 5 and 6 was determined against a range of bacteria and fungi implicated in opportunistic and nosocomial infections. Compounds 5 and 6 were the most active against all the tested microorganisms with MIC values ranging between 24 and 63 μg/ml, except against Staphylococcus aureus which was relatively resistant. Compounds 1 and 3 had a low toxicity with an LC(50) > 200 μg/ml towards Vero cells in the MTT assay. Compounds 5 and 6 were toxic with LC(50) values of 6.03±0.02 and 2.98±0.01 μg/ml, respectively. Compounds 1 and 3 similarly were not toxic to the red blood cells (RBCs) but compounds 5 and 6 were toxic, showing HA titer values of 1.33 and 0.67 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Compounds 5 and 6 were the most active but were also relatively cytotoxic to monkey kidney cells and red blood cells, while the other isolated compounds were less active and less cytotoxic

Role of project governance in managing projects sustainability: A theoretical perspective

Sustainability is incessantly posing challenges when it is studied juxtaposition with project management. To ensure sustainability companies undertaking projects ought to set strategic and operational plans that will add to the project sustainability. Research shows that existing project management structures do not effectively consider sustainability issues and therefore need revisions at strategic and operational levels. Similarly, while the theme of project governance is finding traction in the literature, the discussion that connects project governance and sustainability in projects is elusive. This research work is specifically focusing on developing a linkage between project governance and managing sustainability in projects. There is an acute scarcity of literature encircling linkage between project governance and sustainable project management, thus, based on the extensive review of the literature, this study is one of the pioneering studies to highlight the relationship between the themes of project governance and sustainable project management