Drought is a major environmental constraint that negatively affects crop germination, seedling establishment, and overall yield. This study presents a sustainable approach to improving wheat productivity under water-deficit conditions through the application of a gellan gum-based hydrogel enriched with the growth stimulant. The hydrogel was synthesized by inducing ionic gelation of gellan gum using potassium chloride and ammonium sulfate, forming a robust, cross-linked polymer network. Wheat seeds were coated with one to eight layers of the hydrogel using a sequential dipping and drying process. Optimal seedling performance was achieved with a two-layer coating, balancing sufficient water retention with adequate gas exchange. FTIR spectroscopy and pH analysis confirmed ionic interactions between Kaz-6 and the carboxyl groups of gellan, supporting its stable incorporation within the polymer matrix. Mechanical characterization showed that ammonium sulfate significantly enhanced gel strength and cross-linking density compared to potassium chloride. Laboratory germination assays and greenhouse trials demonstrated that seeds coated with gellan hydrogel containing Kaz-6 showed enhanced germination rates, greater biomass accumulation, and significantly improved drought tolerance—surviving up to 10 days longer than controls under water-limited conditions. These findings highlight the potential of biopolymer-based hydrogels as eco-friendly seed coating materials that can improve crop resilience and productivity in arid environments. The proposed formulation aligns with sustainable agriculture goals and represents a promising direction for future field-scale applications in climate-adaptive farming systems. © 2025 by the authors.

The physical and mechanical properties of concrete produced for road slabs using bulk fiber reinforcement with polypropylene macro- and microfibers were tested to address challenges in improving road slab performance. The study analyzed the effects of incorporating macrofibers and microfibers into the concrete composition. It was established that low-modulus synthetic fibers significantly influence the strength, density, water resistance, and frost resistance of concrete. Polypropylene macrofibers enhance compressive and bending strength, while polypropylene microfibers improve the cement matrix structure, optimize the pore space, and increase frost and water resistance. Experimental results demonstrated that using fibers of various sizes enables the production of concrete with enhanced strength, density, and durability. Moreover, combining fiber reinforcement with microsilica allowed an increase in bending strength by up to 35%, frost resistance up to F375, and water resistance up to W14. The study’s approach included selecting materials compliant with regulations, optimizing C25/30 class heavy concrete compositions with microsilica, and conducting tests to evaluate operational reliability. The findings validate the use of multidimensional polypropylene fibers and microsilica for road slab manufacturing, creating additional crystallization centers and reducing pore space. These results offer insights into enhancing mechanical and durability properties for infrastructure applications, contributing to reduced maintenance costs and extended service life. Copyright © Int. J. of GEOMATE All rights reserved, including making copies, unless permission is obtained from the copyright proprietors.

Titanium beryllide Be12Ti is not only a prospective material for the blankets of future fusion reactors as a neutron multiplier, but can also be used in other areas of the nuclear industry, such as reflectors in fission reactors, in rocket and space technology. This paper presents the results of experimental thermal desorption studies (TDS) of samples of monolithic titanium beryllide Be12Ti produced by "Ulba Metallurgical Plant" JSC (Kazakhstan). To conduct the thermal desorption spectroscopic studies, titanium beryllide Be12Ti samples were pre-saturated in deuterium medium at atmospheric pressure at temperatures of 873 K and 973 K. The TDS measurements of the deuterium release spectrum in the temperature range of 293 K-1473 K at linear heating rates of 10 and 20 К/min were conducted. Experimental data on the parameters of the interaction of deuterium with titanium beryllium Be12Ti have been established. Based on a preliminary analysis of the experimental data, a mechanism of deuterium release processes from the samples under linear heating is proposed. © 2023

Understanding Kazakhstan’s plague history is crucial for early warning and effective health disaster management. We used descriptive-analytical methods to analyze spatial data for human cases in natural plague foci in Kazakhstan during 1926–2003. The findings revealed 565 human cases across 82 outbreaks in Almaty (32.22%), Aktobe (1.59%), Atyrau (4.42%), Mangystau (21.24%), and Kyzylorda (40.53%) oblasts. Before antibiotic drugs were introduced in 1947–1948, major plague outbreaks occurred in 1926, 1929, 1945, 1947, and 1948, constituting 80.7% of human transmission. Plague spread through flea bites, camel handling, wild animal contact, aerosol transmissions, and rodent bites. Patients were up to 86 years of age; 49.9% were male and 50.1% female. Pulmonary cases were reported most frequently (72.4%), and person-to-person infection occurred at an incidence rate of 0.29 cases/10,000 population. Risk increased with human expansion into natural plague foci areas. Swift diagnosis and treatment are essential for curbing plague outbreaks in Kazakhstan. © 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All rights reserved.

Article presents information on creation of the reference geodetic network for organization of geodetic monitoring of a long bridge, in particular the Momyshuly Street - Raimbek Avenue interchange in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. Almaty is located in a high seismic activity region. Issue of using satellite positioning technology to create reference geodetic network is considered. Overview of both classical methods of geodetic observations and modern devices and technologies used to determine quantitative characteristics of bridge deformations is given. Original technology of direct satellite measurements with analysis of its accuracy is presented. Results. Methodology for creating reference network for monitoring bridge deformations has been developed. Research results have been implemented in the project “Development of innovative methods for forecasting and assessing the state of engineering structures to prevent technogenic emergencies” and have also been used in the educational process. Scientific novelty. As a result of research work, following have been created and implemen ed in production:- diagram of reference geodetic network of b idge location area;-developed reference geodetic point of forced centering (FCP), which allows increasing productivity and accuracy of observations; Novelty of developed network and point design are confirmed by the Certificates of the Republic of Kazakhstan for work of science. Practical value. Results obtained can be used to improve level of industrial safety at other facilities and minimize risks caused by seismic activity in the area. © 2024, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. All rights reserved.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is recognized as an effective tool for the treatment of cancer and it has attracted considerable attention of scientists. In this work, gold nanospheres (AuNSs) and gold nanorods (AuNRs) stabilized using poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), pristine gellan gum (PGG), and poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)-grafted gellan gum (GG-g-PEtOx) are synthesized and evaluated as PTT agents in Ehrlich cancer cells. The physicochemical characteristics of these AuNSs and AuNRs, including their surface plasmon resonance absorption spectra, size, zeta potential, and aspect ratio are studied using UV–vis-spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy, and optical microscopy techniques. The polymer-protected AuNSs exhibit light-to-heat conversion, raising the temperature from 37 to 43 °C when irradiated using a visible light source. In the case of AuNSs, considerable damage to Ehrlich cancer cells is observed following irradiation and 40 days of examination. However, with regard to AuNSs, the damage to Ehrlich cancer cells is slightly lower than observed in AuNRs. In vivo experiments demonstrate that laser irradiation of tumors in mice after injecting AuNSs leads to a statistically significant decrease in tumor size as compared to those not irradiated and the control samples. © 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

This study contributes to the literature by evaluating the ability of Altman’s Z”-score model to predict the economic distress of 12 Kazakh banks over the period 2008-2014. The original Z”-score model with a cut-off point implied by Altman (2005) produced a prediction accuracy ratio of 44.05% and correctly classifies 76.19% of the observations as an economically distressed group. This study then re-estimates the model using three approaches, namely, the “leave-one-out”, Direct, and Wilks’ methods, and identifies new, optimal cut-off points for the re-estimated models. The re-estimated models, together with the new, optimal cutoff points, improved the prediction accuracy ratio to 70% and correctly classified over 90% of the observations originally assigned to the economically distressed group. The results imply that the Kazakh banking regulator and other market participants could use Altman’s Z”-score model to detect economically distressed banks. © 2024 by World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd.

The Zaysan Basin is a petroliferous basin in eastern Kazakhstan. Its upper Carboniferous–Permian sedimentary succession outcrops in the Kenderlyk Trough and includes, from base to top, the Kenderlyk, Karaungur, Tarancha, and Maychat formations, which contain 5 to 65 m-thick oil shale deposits—the principal subject of this study. Results from 49 outcrop samples show high total organic carbon (TOC) contents (1.2–21%, mean 7.8%), extract yields (1.2–15 mg HC/g rock, mean 6.8 mg HC/g rock), and ultimate expulsion potential (UEP; up to 23 mmboe/km2), making these oil shale deposits among the best source rocks in the world. Sedimentological, organic geochemical and organic petrographic analyses suggest an overall evolution of the basin from a deep/semi-deep lake during deposition of the Kenderlyk, Karaungur, and Tarancha formations to a deltaic setting during deposition of the Maychat Formation. The organic material in the Kenderlyk, Karaungur, and Tarancha formations is predominately composed of Type I and mixed I/III kerogens with high hydrocarbon generation potential (S1 + S2; up to 172.8 mg HC/g rock), high hydrogen index (HI; up to 838 mg HC/g TOC), and low oxygen index (OI; < 60 mg CO2/g TOC). The sporadic influx of terrigenous organic matter resulted in layers with lower HI and higher OI index, and increased inertinite and vitrinite contents. The Maychat Formation includes hydrogen-poor Type III kerogen with low HI (< 200 mg HC/g TOC) and high OI index (> 60 mg CO2/g TOC) in the Kenderlyk Trough. While a highly oxidizing environment during deposition of the Maychat Formation is postulated for the Kenderlyk Trough, it is likely that oxygen-depleted conditions in the depocenter of the Zaysan Basin favored accumulation of Type I kerogen. The oil-source correlation shows that the produced oils are chemically distinct from the source rock extracts of the Kenderlyk, Karaungur, and Tarancha formations. We propose that these source rocks are “massive”, where the retention of generated oil is too high, causing the hydrocarbons to “bleed” from the source rock's edge only. The expelled oil has probably charged the lower Permian deposits, which have not yet been explored. Regional geological cross-sections and seismic lines allow for selecting sweet spots, characterized by high TOC, yields, and temperatures needed for oil generation and unconventional hydrocarbon resource development. This study provides the play concept and a risk assessment analogue for tectonically and magmatically dynamic settings and basins with multiple organic rich strata. Furthermore, the results and proposed concepts may play a significant role in future petroleum exploration and development activities in the Zaysan Basin. In addition, this highly multidisciplinary study emphasizes the significance of integrating several data sources and weighing contradictory information to get the most reasonable conclusion.

Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET) suffers from the loss of perilous data packets and disruption of links due to the fast movement of vehicles and dynamic network topology. Moreover, the reliability of the vehicular network is also threatened by malicious vehicles and messages. The malicious vehicle can promulgate fake messages to the node to misguide it, which may result in the loss of precious lives. In this situation, maintaining efficient, reliable, and secure communication among automobiles is of extreme importance, especially for a densely populated network. One of the remedies is vehicular clustering, which can effectively perform in a high-density network. However, secure cluster formation and cluster optimization are important factors to consider during the clustering process because non-optimal clusters may incur high end-to-end communication delays and produce overhead on the network. In addition, malicious nodes and packets reduce passenger and driver safety, increase road accidents, and waste passenger and driver time. To this end, we employ Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm (AOA) to design a secure intelligent clustering named AOACNET. AOA is used to achieve optimality of vehicular clusters. During cluster formation, the algorithm prevents unauthentic nodes from becoming cluster members by taking into consideration the performance value of each automobile. The vehicle’s performance value is based on the record of data transmission. If a vehicle transmits a fake message, it will receive a penalty of (-1), and in the case of transmitting a legitimate message, a reward of (+1) will be assigned to the vehicle. Initially, all the vehicles have equal performance value which either increase or decrease based on communication with their peers. The vehicles will become cluster members only if their performance value is greater than the threshold value (0). AOACNET is tested in MATLAB using various evaluation metrics (i.e., number of clusters, load balancing, computational time, network overhead and delay). The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs up to 25% better than the similar contenders in terms of designated optimization objectives. Copyright: © 2024 Ali et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Heavy metal pollution, particularly chromium (Cr), poses a significant environmental challenge. This study addresses this issue by developing a novel composite adsorbent consisting of diatomite (DE), Fe3O4, and an activated carbon from teff straw (TSAC). The nanocomposite was characterized, exploiting FT-IR, BET, SEM, and XRD analyses, revealing a substantial BET surface area of 347.45 m2/g. Response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) was exploited to optimize adsorption parameters, including pH, adsorbent dose, initial Cr(VI) concentration, and adsorption time. Optimal conditions yielded a removal efficiency of 93.28 % at pH 4, an adsorbent dose of 0.024 g/100 mL, an initial Cr(VI) level of 15 mg/L, and an adsorption time of 60 min. The results showed that the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models, along with Toth model, best matched the data. This implies that both monolayer and heterogeneous surface adsorptions are the main mechanism, with a maximal sorption capacity of 131 mg/g and followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Thermodynamic analyses uncovered the spontaneous and endothermic nature of the Cr (VI) adsorption by DE/Fe3O4/TSAC. The composite's recyclability was demonstrated over five cycles, maintaining significant removal efficiency. Such findings highlight the potentials of the DE/Fe3O4/TSAC composite for effective Cr (VI) removal from water, offering a promising solution to mitigate chromium pollution. © 2025 The Author(s)