The railway sector is the largest branch of the economy in Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, environmental safety issues and the reduction and prevention of harmful impacts are not given sufficient attention. There is very little research on the impact of the railway sector of Kazakhstan on the natural environment, which hinders the further development of the railway sector and thus necessitates the addressal of environment issues. This study aimed to show possible environmentally hazardous sections of the country’s railway infrastructure. The criteria chosen for the analysis were soil cover, water resources, rainfall, protected natural areas, and population. A map of environmentally sensitive areas was created to determine which areas require priority protection from the environmental hazards posed by the country’s railway infrastructure. The map was developed in a GIS environment using the weighted overlay, expert assessment, and snowball methods. Additionally, a model for the Kazakhstan segment of the International Northern Railway Corridor was constructed in this article to identify integral indices that assess the susceptibility of the territory to environmental hazards. The data and results presented in the article can be used to solve current and future environmental issues concerning the country’s railway communications and can be implemented in many practical applications.

The forecast is an important strategic document for planning and defining goals and priorities for the region’s development. Socio-economic forecasting is relevant all over the world. For this reason, the issues of formation and practical application of forecasts, including regional ones, are reflected in many research papers. The purpose of the study is to consider the process of developing a forecast of socio-economic development in the regions of Kazakhstan and to identify factors that worsen its quality. The authors used a combination of research methods: description, observation, content analysis and system-analytical. The description of the forecasting process was carried out in the Bizagi Model software package. The main sources of information of the study were the observation of the procedure for making a forecast of the region and the analysis of legal acts regulating the forecasting processes in the Republic of Kazakhstan. To achieve the purpose of the study, the role of forecasting in management was determined, the differences between the forecast and the plan, the primary methods and types of forecasting, approaches to forecasting were listed, the process of making a forecast at the regional level was described and analyzed, “weaknesses” in the forecast development procedure were identified. The result of the study was the identification of limitations affecting the quality and efficiency of the use of the developed forecasts, and ways to reduce them are proposed. The study contributes to understanding the regional forecasting process and the causes of problems arising during its development.

With the positive and negative consequences of rapid global urbanization, the main task of the state is to ensure the long-term quality of life of its citizens. Currently, reforms undertaken by post-Soviet states aimed at environment-related projects are facing increasing resistance and protest from local populations. In 2020, the authors of this paper carried out a study on the Maly Taldykol lake group, located in the south-western planning region of Nur-Sultan. The purpose of this work wasto conduct an assessment of ecosystem services to inform effective management decisionsin urban planning. A strategy of combined research methods was applied. Because of the lack of data, the challenge was to explain, summarize, and verify the data obtained by one method through the application of another method. Analysis of the data showed that the annual costs associated with the creation of artificial “islands of nature” through the expansion of green areas is 20 times less than the losses associated with the development of the territory of Maloe Taldykol and the consequential loss of natural landscape. The results revealed that keeping these ecosystem services in their natural setting reducesthe cost of providing these services in an alternative way, and avoids the negativeimpact of an ill-conceived decision. The uniqueness of this interdisciplinary study lies in thecost-benefit analysis of the findings of the assessment of ecosystem services, which result inthe most effective management decisions in urban planning. Keywords: public management, ecosystem approach, urban planning, ESVD

In this paper, the models of Euler–Bernoulli beams on the Winkler foundations are considered. The novelty of the research is in consideration of the models with an arbitrary variable coefficient of foundation. Qualitative results that influence the symmetry of the coefficient of foundation on the spectral properties of the corresponding problems are obtained, for which specific variable coefficients of foundation are tested using numerical calculations. Three types of fixing at the ends are studied: clamped-clamped, hinged-hinged and free-free. The conditions of the stiffness and types of beam fixing have been found for the set of eigenvalues of boundary value problems on a full segment and can be represented as two groups of the eigenvalues of certain problems on a half segment. Such qualitative spectral properties of a mechanical system can contribute to the creation of various algorithms for nondestructive testing, which are widely used in technical acoustics.

In this paper, the models of Euler–Bernoulli non-uniform beams with the axial loads on the Winkler foundations are considered. The non-uniform beam in the model is described by three variable parameters/coefficients: bending stiffness, foundation and beam mass per unit length. The key finding of this study is the clear demonstration of how the agreed symmetry of variable parameters affects the spectral properties of a problem. The qualitative results for the symmetric equivalence (factorisation of sets of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions) of eigenvalues of non-uniform beams for two types of fixing at the ends (clamped-clamped and hinged-hinged) have been obtained. In order to demonstrate equivalence, a hybrid algorithm has been devised, based on the qualitative spectral properties of fourth-order ordinary differential equations and axial load calculations. The results have been validated using examples on the Maple computer package and compared with the experimental measurements.

The inverse problem of determining the weight of three intermediate masses on a uniform beam from the known three natural frequencies has been solved. The performed numerical analysis allows restoring the value of only the second mass in a unique way. The inverse problem of determining the weight of three intermediate masses is solved uniquely except in the case when the first and the third masses are located geometrically symmetric relative to the middle of the beam. The hybrid algorithm for the unique solving inverse problem of determining the weight of three intermediate masses has been developed. The first three natural frequencies of the beam are calculated numerically by using the Maple computer package. Analytical relations between the masses are found.