The research was performed in the context of examinations of refractory matrix composite feasibility for such applications as plow blades or mining drill bits. In the experiments, the WC matrix was used with Co binder, and zirconia played the role of the particulate filler. ZrO2 is known and appreciated for its wear resistance, high fracture toughness, and high hardness. It forms the tetragonal metastable phase t-ZrO2 and the termodynamically stable monoclinic phase m-ZrO2. The WC-Co-ZrO2 composite samples were made of the powders using an innovative, energy-saving, field activated vacuum hot-pressing unit. The alternating current passing through the graphite mold and the sample was the sole heat source, providing high heating rates up to 300 °C/min and a relatively short sintering time of several minutes. As a result, nanoscale features were preserved in the composite structure ensuring high hardness and wear resistance. In particular, during microindentation, the work of elastic deformation was We = 0.162 μJ, while the work of plastic deformation was Wp = 0.484 μJ, which showed that the elastic part of indentation work was ηIT = 26.58%. This can be explained by transformation toughening phenomena, which take place when tetragonal zirconia t-ZrO2 transforms to the monoclinic phase mZrO2, which is accompanied by the changes of the specific volume. This, in turn, generates compressive mechanical stresses suppressing crack propagation, improving elasticity of the composite. At the next stage of the investigations, it is planned to perform tribological tests. © 2024 Latvia University of Life Sciences and

Purpose. Development of an innovative methodology for exploring groundwater deposits for the conditions of rural areas of the Mangystau Peninsula, which will allow finding sources of groundwater with acceptable mineralization with a minimum number of drilled wells. Methodology. The assigned tasks were solved using a comprehensive research method, which includes a review and synthesis of literary sources; patent market research; study of geological and hydrogeological conditions of the work area; critical analysis of existing methods for exploration of groundwater deposits; studying and summarizing previously conducted exploration work in the area and developing recommendations for improving exploration methods. Findings. The reasons for the insufficient use of groundwater reserves on the Mangystau Peninsula have been established. A highly effective method for exploring groundwater deposits has been developed, taking into account the specific features of the Mangystau Peninsula – vast sparsely populated areas and the chaotic location of aquifers with acceptable mineralization. Reducing the number of wells drilled is achieved by searching and identifying the boundaries of the aquifer using successive cycles with a moving center, which allows you to systematically explore the area and find the best aquifers. Originality. For the first time, a methodology for exploring groundwater deposits has been proposed, the main provisions of which are as follows: exploration wells are drilled with a small diameter, and only wells that have uncovered horizons with acceptable mineralization are subject to expansion; wells are drilled using a combined grid, combining the capabilities of radial and regular grids; the centers of the first cycle of the exploration grid are existing water intakes containing water with acceptable mineralization; from such centers, drilling is carried out along a radial grid of six wells; when a horizon with acceptable mineralization is discovered, the discovered well becomes the center of the second cycle of a radial grid of six wells, at least three of which have already been drilled in the previous cycle. Further exploration continues with subsequent cycles with the goal of constructing wells with acceptable flow rate and mineralization. Practical value. The implementation of the developed methodology is of great practical importance for the further development of oil and gas production, industrial production and agriculture of the Mangystau Peninsula, as well as social significance for meeting the needs of the growing population of the region for high-quality water for drinking and household water supply. The use of the developed methodology makes it possible to reduce the number of useless wells, minimizing exploration costs. © Biletskiy M.T., Ratov B.T., Khomenko V.L., Yesturliyev A.E., Makhitova Z.Sh., 2025.

The services and applications provided by video streaming over Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) have recently become very attractive to technology users. In VANETs, the moving vehicles on the roads take great advantage of this radio link by exchanging information with each other related to the safety, traffic jams, accidents, and condition of the roads via video streaming. On the other hand, this transmission domain poses many challenging issues like frequent disconnections due to fast-speed vehicles, longer transmission delays, and inefficient link consumption etc. numbers of routing strategies have been proposed in the literature that aimed to address these challenges of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). This article is based on a Location-Based Hybrid Video Streaming Protocol (LBHVSP) that has been proposed with the intent to minimize the challenges related to video transmission as well as the attainment of high network performance. The idea presented is a motivation from the dynamic nature of transceiver and receiver transmission power, accompanied by the range-based localization techniques for inter-space computation of vehicular nodes. LBHVSP is a 2-way protocol that works as a combination of infrastructure-based and infrastructure-less wireless networks that tends to minimize the average packet delay for efficient utilization of bandwidth. It is a two-phase solution, firstly frames are transmitted to the second hop node available in the direct range that minimizes the traveling path in terms of hop count and ultimately yields minimal delay. Secondly, this technique utilizes the Road Side Units (RSUs) having wired connectivity for a faraway destination. Experimental results using different transmission scenarios reveal its efficacy by attaining maximum average packet throughput, minimum average packet drop rate, and minimum average per-packet delay in Signal Transmission Power and Packet Reception Power Threshold values. The proposed scheme has outperformed the state-of-the-art transmission scenarios in terms of static parameters. Varying transmission and reception powers subject to the inter-distance have shown remarkable outcomes. In comparison to pre-existing VANET protocols like DyTE and DSR, proposed scheme has shown an average improvement of 30% in packet drop rate, and 80% rise in throughput, approximately. Besides, our scheme has shown a remarkable decline in transmission delay as well. On comparing the LBHVSP performance against recent VANET communication protocol, it comes out that it attains the maximum throughput and delay improvement. Furthermore, to cater the packet drop, a smart re-transmission strategy should be designed particularly for multimedia streaming and video message exchange. © The Author(s) 2024.

Global warming-induced melting and thawing of the cryosphere are severely altering the volume and timing of water supplied from High Mountain Asia, adversely affecting downstream food and energy systems that are relied on by billions of people. The construction of more reservoirs designed to regulate streamflow and produce hydropower is a critical part of strategies for adapting to these changes. However, these projects are vulnerable to a complex set of interacting processes that are destabilizing landscapes throughout the region. Ranging in severity and the pace of change, these processes include glacial retreat and detachments, permafrost thaw and associated landslides, rock–ice avalanches, debris flows and outburst floods from glacial lakes and landslide-dammed lakes. The result is large amounts of sediment being mobilized that can fill up reservoirs, cause dam failure and degrade power turbines. Here we recommend forward-looking design and maintenance measures and sustainable sediment management solutions that can help transition towards climate change-resilient dams and reservoirs in High Mountain Asia, in large part based on improved monitoring and prediction of compound and cascading hazards. © 2022, Springer Nature Limited.

The increase in cost of carbonaceous materials, as well as significant costs of industrial waste, have prompted scientists to use alternative raw materials as components of the construction industry. This study investigated the suitability of waste products from the coke industry as modifying agents for polymer bitumen. The by-product of the coking industry reaches a high level of silicon and is called siliconcontaining additive (SCA), the composition of which is similar to the mineral solutions for bitumen. In this article, the results of using SCA as standard additives for modified polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with bitumen waste is presented. Using the Simdist boiling point distribution method, simulated high temperature distillation by gas chromatography, differential thermal (DTA) analyzes, and other methods of physic-chemical properties of bitumen after adding of SCA were studied. It was revealed that the connection and consumption of additives occurs because of the content of aromatic components, as well as an increase in the consumption of bitumen characteristics. Thus, the presented method for obtaining road surfaces based on PET waste and coke production waste meet the requirements of sustainable development, which implements both a significant use of industrial waste as secondary products and their processing into a new product using an energy-saving technology that reduces the consumption of raw materials and resources. © 2023, Kauno Technologijos Universitetas. All rights reserved.

Central Asian countries, which include Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, are known to be highly exposed to natural hazards, particularly earthquakes, floods, and landslides. With the aim of enhancing financial resilience and risk-based investment, planning to promote disaster and climate resilience in Central Asia, the European Union, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), launched the Strengthening Financial Resilience and Accelerating Risk Reduction in Central Asia (SFRARR) regional programme. Within this framework, a consortium of national and international scientific institutions was established and tasked with developing a regionally consistent multi-hazard and multi-asset probabilistic risk assessment. The overall goal was to improve scientific understanding on local perils and to provide local stakeholders and governments with up-to-date tools to support risk management strategies. However, the development of a comprehensive risk model can only be done with the basis of an accurate hazard evaluation, the reliability of which depends significantly on the availability of local data and direct observations. This paper describes the preparation of the input datasets required for the implementation of a probabilistic earthquake model for the Central Asian countries. In particular, it discusses the preparation of a new regional earthquake catalogue harmonized between countries and homogenized in moment magnitude (Mw), as well as the preparation of a regional database of selected active faults with associated slip rate information to be used for the construction of the earthquake source model. The work was carried out in collaboration with experts from the local scientific community, whose contribution proved essential for the rational compilation of the two harmonized datasets. © 2024 Valerio Poggi et al.

Urban construction in flooded and waterlogged areas has a centuries-old history. Of the repeatedly used water treatment systems, the most effective turned out to be a water-channel system that allows groundwater or atmospheric water to be diverted to the water body closest to the development area or located inside it. In most cases, the channels allow solving some of the problems in the field of passenger and freight transport, complementing or duplicating overland transportation by waterways. The best examples from world practice show the possibility of organizing highly comfortable buildings on sites with both road and water-channel communication. The Astana city was historically formed on the right bank of the Yesil’ River, where geological and hydrological conditions did not have dominant factors in the form of flooding and waterlogging due to precipitation and groundwater. At the end of the last century, the intensive growth of the city, which became the capital of Kazakhstan, led to the urban development of the left bank of the Yesil’ River. In this area (especially in the southwestern part), there are many water bodies and a very high groundwater level, which both independently and in combination with flood waters and precipitation periodically forms flooding of vast areas. Sporadically carried out measures to drain overflowing water bodies, the construction of wells and drainage outlets only partially solved the annually escalating problem. In these circumstances, it seems advisable to use the experience of the United States, where a developed canal system has been formed in the Miami city. These channels eliminated the danger of flooding of the territory, provided convenient water transport links to various areas, formed commercially attractive areas with private access for individual development, as well as comfortable recreational areas. The proposed water-channel system for the city of Astana has a relatively complex spiral-arc configuration. This is proposed due to terrain peculiarities of the landscaped area and the location of existing water bodies. This system is linked to the riverbed of the Yesil’ River and ensures the flow of excess water into it downstream of the river outside the city limits. As a result, many sites with convenient street-road and water-channel connections to the existing urban area become available for active urban development. © 2024 by authors, all rights reserved.

This scientific study presents a comprehensive assessment of the Priirtysh sedimentary basin, focusing on identifying potential reservoirs for carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage. The methodology includes 2D seismic data interpretation, well log analysis, and the construction of a 3D geological model using Petrel software. Seismic surveys conducted between 1992 and 1997, along with data from more than 4,000 hydrogeological wells, were utilized to develop a structural and lithological model of the basin. Kazakhstan currently lacks dedicated infrastructure for CO₂ capture and storage. Notably, potential CO₂ storage formations in the Pavlodar region, which accounts for the highest greenhouse gas emissions in the country, have yet to be systematically evaluated. Thus, investigating the CO₂ storage potential of regional aquifers is of both scientific and strategic importance. By combining geophysical (seismic interpretation) and petrophysical (porosity, permeability, and reservoir quality) analyses with 3D geological modeling, this study offers new insights into the subsurface architecture of the basin. The integration of seismic and well log data significantly enhances the model’s accuracy and enables the identification of structural complexities. Key findings indicate the presence of several promising aquifers at depths between 500 and 2,000 m, particularly within the Upper Jurassic–Cenozoic formations. The study estimates the CO₂ storage capacity of these aquifers and assesses their suitability for long-term containment, laying the groundwork for future hydrodynamic simulations and injection feasibility studies. Ultimately, the identification of viable storage formations in the Pavlodar region aligns with Kazakhstan’s strategic goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. © by the authors.

To improve the operational quality of paddy combine it was proposed to include additional innovative operations in plant process of pre-threshing preparation of rice biomass with anticipating seeds selection which increases seeds separation, reduces injuries, forms stable operation of threshing-separating device of combine harvester. Retrofit feeder house is a solution to ensure the stable uniform feed of assorted biomass into the threshing separation device. Equipped with tool package – harvester feeder house turned to the running control equipment for incoming flow of biomass. The movement of threshed heap inside the modified geometry of feeder house with tools effectively affect on caulis, panicle of rice – screed, and brings the biomass vibration mode i. e., lead to the dynamic separation of rice headed seeds to threshing rotor. Vibration (tossing) of biomass make it possible for free rice seeds pass through caulis to the bottom of feeder house. Development program of innovative driving devices of multifunctional rice seed harvester combine considered the development of preproduction explorational program ensuring the information on harvest loss during various rice harvesting, their separation between main harvester aggregates – collector, auger, elevator, threshing mill. It is proposed to combine, in a single complex, all the control parameters, subordinating their actions, into an active control device of the technological process, affecting the shapes of rolls formed from various varieties and yields of rice. © 2023, Authors. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons CC BY license

Article discusses preliminary work results carried out by the Kazakh National Research Technical University (KazNIRU) named after K.I. Satpayev together with the Central Laboratory for Certification of Building Materials (CLCBM) on resource saving and recycling of industrial waste to obtain demanded building materials. Processing of industrial wastes (wastes of enrichment and processing, overburden and enclosing rocks), close in composition to natural and used in traditional areas, practically does not differ from the industrial processing of natural mineral raw materials. Creation of efficient technologies for processing of technogenic raw materials is urgent task, which make it possible to obtain competitive products from it for various industries. Utilization of waste from mining and metallurgical complexes makes it possible to reduce technogenic load on the environment and ensure rational use of secondary raw materials. Possibility of obtaining solutions for strengthening fractured rocks and building structures has been studied. Study results of wastes of the Akshatau Mining and Processing Plant are presented and the possibility of using them to strengthen fractured rocks is confirmed. With the help of strengthening, it is possible to slow down processes of slacking and sloughing of rocks, to prevent ledges collapse and rocks sloughing from surface of slopes. Rock mass hardening in the weakened areas is achieved by substances injection into array cracks, which, after hardening and setting of rock, significantly increase its resistance to shear. The most widespread among hardening methods is cementation during mine workings (underground structures) in fractured rocks. Significance of obtained results for construction industry lies in the expansion and reproduction of raw material base of building materials industry through use of MMC waste (concentration tailings) and development of resource-saving technologies. © 2023, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. All rights reserved.