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Maritime ports face challenges associated with navigation safety, operational efficiency, and management. With the development of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence simulation technologies, geographical information systems, and cloud computing technologies as well as navigation aids and decision support systems in maritime transportation, ports have the potential to better manage traffic, loading, and unloading. Recently, there has been growing attention in unmanned shipping to support the maritime industry and the military. This paper aims to extend the application of geographical theory and methodology in unmanned ship path optimization. Automatic collision avoidance concerning maneuvering capabilities of ships as well as complying with maritime traffic rules remains a challenge. This study attempts to tackle development needs associated with path optimization in maritime travel. By integrating ship movement behavior, geographical features, and the International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea, the proposed methods seek to reduce the human error associated with maritime accidents. This paper proposes economic efficiency and safety-driven unmanned ship path planning that will promote the future growth of intelligent port development.

Due to the strong coupling between power injections and bus voltages in DC distribution networks, it is impossible to achieve economic dispatch and recover the nominal voltages of all buses, simultaneously. In light of this, a multi-objective optimization-based control model is formulated for the multiple distributed energy resources (DERs) within the DC distribution network to be dispatched as a virtual power plant. A compromise can be made between the economic efficiency and voltage distribution quality by placing different weights on the multiple objectives. To this end, a distributed real-time multi-objective control strategy is proposed. Specifically, facilitated by sequential peer-to-peer communication, the dynamics of the cyber-physical DC distribution system imitate the primal-dual subgradient algorithm to the multi-objective optimization, thus can iteratively converge to its optimal solution. A dynamic weight adjustment mechanism is further designed to bound the bus voltages within a feasible range. This strategy is plug-and-play, privacy-preserving, robust to communication failures, and responsive to change of operating conditions compared to its centralized counterpart. Simulation studies of two typical DC distribution feeders verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach in various scenarios.

Finding a parking space is a daunting task that frustrates drivers, affects the economic efficiency of carriers and impacts city sustainability. Between meeting the needs of deliverers (location, accessibility, proximity...) and individuals (price, duration, closeness...), transport and urban traffic planners find themselves in a conflict of interest. Hence the importance of a tool that manages the entire urban parking system in real time. This paper presents, in this perspective, a solution that allocates parking spaces to carriers and individuals under uncertain conditions. Its principle is founded on two allocation levels. The first distributes parking requests on the city areas by considering three characteristic indicators. The second ranks, for each driver, the available spaces in the designated area according to their decreasing non-dominated degree. It additionally includes a conflict management approach for dealing with the assignment of multiple drivers to the same place. It is deployed and its performance is tested by administering parking in a city with four urban areas.

With the prosperity of wireless and mobile communications, the allocation of wireless resources, e.g., spectrum channels, femtocell access permissions, and resource blocks of D2D connections, has become a matter of great concern, which leads to the emergence and popularity of electronic auction. However, the lack of privacy protection and fairness guarantee in the existing market has posed great obstacles to user participation in electronic auctions. Without privacy protection, users will be worried about the unauthorized exposure of their commercial secrets, which may hurt their payoffs in the long run. Without fairness guarantee, selfish/malicious users may prematurely abort the auction to avoid unsatisfactory payment, thus causing loss to honest users and wasting system resources. Furthermore, the lack of fairness guarantee will incur an exchange dilemma, where mutually distrusting parties may refuse to initiate the goods/money exchange, hindering the market-clearing of auctions. Although extensive efforts have been made to develop privacy-preserving auction mechanisms for wireless markets, the fairness issue, to the best of our knowledge, has never been taken into account in the context of auctions. Moreover, a truly practical framework that can be applied to most mainstream auction formats is also missing in the literature. In this paper, we present the first general framework, named SAFE, for representative auctions in (but not limited to) wireless markets. SAFE achieves a wide range of security goals with much higher efficiency than existing solutions. Furthermore, SAFE ensures auction fairness in a trust-free manner by developing a full set of carefully-designed modular protocols that can be easily adapted to any auction format. We implement the SAFE framework over a simulated Ethereum network. Extensive experimental results confirm that SAFE can indeed achieve high economic efficiency in terms of social welfare and participation satisfaction at very low computation and communication overheads.

Risk-informed safety classification of structures, systems and components (SSCs) is very important for ensuring the safety and economic efficiency of nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, previous methods for safety classification of SSCs do not take the plant operating modes or the operational process of SSCs into consideration, thus cannot concentrate on the safety and economic efficiency accurately. In this contribution, a new method for safety classification of SSCs based on the categorization of plant operating modes is proposed, which considers the NPPs operating history to improve the economic efficiencies while maintaining the safety. According to the time duration of plant configurations in plant operating modes, average importances of SSCs are accessed for an NPP considering the operational process, and then safety classification of SSCs is performed for plant operating modes. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by application in an NPP's safety classification of SSCs.

Buildings are exposed to risks from environmental hazards such as earthquakes, windstorms and floods. Substantial uncertainties from various sources are inevitably involved in the risk estimation and decision-making for activities such as design and disaster risk mitigation for buildings. Decision makers seek to achieve economic efficiency while ensure building safety by managing the extreme tail risk that is typically a concern when facing low-probability, high-consequence events. Thus, risk preferences and tolerances play an important role in the decision process, which often vary among different decision makers. The conventionally used minimum expected life-cycle cost criterion (MELC) fails to adequately cope with large uncertainty and risk preferences. To this end, this paper presents the application of a set of decision models beyond the MELC to support decision-making under uncertainty for buildings exposed to environmental hazards. The objective is to provide risk-informed decision support for decision-makers with a wide range of risk appetites while taking into account uncertainties involved in the life-cycle cost. The features, strengths and weaknesses of these decision models are discussed from a practical point of view. The application and selection of the decision models are demonstrated by two practical decision problems: (i) seismic design of a high-rise commercial building, and (ii) wind hazard mitigation for a low-rise residential building. These examples illustrate how the decisions for choosing seismic design levels and wind mitigation measures vary when different decision models and model settings are applied.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely deployed throughout the world, and photovoltaic (PV) charging stations have emerged for satisfying the charging demands of EV users. This paper proposes a multi-objective optimal operation method for the centralized battery swap charging system (CBSCS), in order to enhance the economic efficiency while reducing its adverse effects on power grid. The proposed method involves a multi-objective optimization scheduling model, which minimizes the total operation cost and smoothes load fluctuations, simultaneously. Afterwards, we modify a recently proposed multi-objective optimization algorithm of non-sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) for solving this scheduling problem. Finally, simulation studies verify the effectiveness of the proposed multi-objective operation method.

In the coming years, an extensive development of offshore wind energy will present a clear trend of clustering offshore wind farms (OWFs). Offshore grid is a novel concept proposed to address the problem of connecting OWFs and integrating large offshore wind energy into the regional onshore power system economically and reliably. Compared with traditional electrical systems in large OWFs, the connection of offshore grid demonstrates some new features. This paper presents a tri-level optimization strategy to optimize offshore grid planning while considering onshore network expansions simultaneously. The proposed strategy turns the optimization of these two complicated electrical networks into three nested optimization models: the ‘Point of common coupling (PCC) optimizer’, ‘Offshore substation (OS) optimizer’, and ‘Offshore grid optimizer’. An engineering case from the East China Sea is discussed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results show that offshore grid demonstrates better overall economic efficiency and less marine corridor consumption. In addition, the proposed methodology can make the integration of large OWFs more friendly to onshore networks.

Inventory ensures stability of the production technical system. Production facilities have warehouses for workpieces to create final output parts, and warehouses for finished products to meet customer demand. Stocks of workpieces avoid manufacturing downtime. Stocks of finished products make it possible to meet demand in a timely manner and avoid penalties for late deliveries of finished products to consumers.On the other hand, the objects that make up the inventory are «dead» material resources that do not bring profit and negatively affect economic efficiency and competitiveness. According to published data, in economically developed countries, such as the USA, Japan, Germany and others, up to 30–40 % of production is in stocks. All this indicates the relevance of the issue of optimising the level of reserves, of solving the problem of establishing and maintaining the optimal level of the stock, its timely replenishment, considering time required for execution of applications of end users.The objective of the workis to propose a solution to a stochastic logistic problem of inventory management with a random time delay and random demand, obtained by the authors using the methods of mathematical statistics, mathematical modelling, and production logistics for unknown and arbitrary form of distribution functions of demand and time delay. The work provides specific examples of approaches to implementation of suggested solution.

The article deals with estimating economic efficiency of a robotic complex (RC) at the EFKO group plant which stacks ready dairy products on trays and in bottles from 6 production lines onto pallets using a palletizer robot and conveyor equipment for products and pallets. The authors demonstrate an RC scheme with the description of its components. They have collected and analyzed the information on the current productivity, weight and size characteristics and location of production lines of a robotic complex for stacking dairy products. The article presents the principle for calculating the required productivity and lifting capacity of the palletizer robot. The authors demonstrate a preproduction model mounted at the EFKO group plant. The complex makes it possible to reduce the labor intensity, improve the quality of stacking, decrease the number of human errors. Its implementation and exploitation will reduce the number of employees. The article presents calculations of economic effect on the stage of planning and after the project’s realization. To this end the authors use traditional methods of investment and qualitative analysis. They determine basic economic indicators such as the amount of capital investments and the terms of the RC implementation, change in the number of staff, maintenance costs, reduction of the “working” area of the warehouse due to the placement of the equipment. The article contains the basic landmarks for determining the standard payback period. According to the data received the authors additionally calculated the indicators of economic efficiency: profitability ratio of capital investment into automation, percentage reduction in unit cost, labor productivity growth. The authors monitored the RC performance efficiency after its implementation at a real production plant of the EFKO group. In conclusion they compare the results of the monitoring with the calculations of the economic effect made at the planning stage. The results adduced can be useful for those who develop automation equipment for packing and storing, and to those who are interested in productivity and quality improvement.

By methods of analysis and synthesis the article studies the problem of developing closed cycle economy in the field of hard communal waste treatment (HCW). Dynamics of waste making up was analyzed and its physical and mechanic properties and chemical composition were provided. The article gives economic tools, functions and classification of these tools that are necessary to organize the process approach to management. The authors put forward a promising scheme of treating HCW built on the basis of European experience and worked out the acute functional-structural scheme of the treatment system by the HCW complex, which demonstrates key business processes and tools of management. Such complex approach to describing the system of HCW treatment can simplify digital modeling of multi-variant business processes, such as burial of waste at waste-grounds, utilization at waste-burning plants, sorting and recycling at waste-recycling enterprises. Digital modeling with successful automated functional and cost analysis can give an opportunity to decrease uncertainty in the field of economic efficiency of managerial decision-making for rational HCW treatment and development of closed cycle economy in this sphere. A correct choice of approaches to the development of closed cycle economy in the field of HCW treatment can reduce the load on nature and support health of people.

Optimization and control strategies are necessary to keep factory operations profitable while minimizing energy usage. Like many industries, the need for the sugarcane industry to improve its energy and economic efficiency is often interrupted by random variations in process inputs and market prices. Therefore, this study seeks to present a plant-wide steady-state optimal operation policy. The strategy uses a steady-state process model and a surrogate optimization algorithm to find optimal set-points that maximize factory revenue in the presence of disturbances. The controlled variables are considered as the decision variables and, after solving the optimization problem, they are provided as setpoints for the closed-loop control systems. To assign an economic value to optimal plant-wide control, the factory net revenue is defined as the objective function. A Monte Carlo method is used to randomly sample from a distribution of process and economic disturbances and to simulate the effect thereof on the energy efficiency and economics of a sugar mill. With set-point optimization, an 8.5% increase in surplus bagasse production was economically optimal despite a 0.43% reduction in sugar yield, improving the net revenue by 2.4%. Therefore, the optimizer managed to determine the optimal points at which excess energy expenditure no longer justifies the revenue gain from sugar. Considering, the global shift towards bio-based products, the increase in surplus bagasse makes it possible for a relatively large bio-refinery that uses bagasse as feedstock to be annexed to a set-point optimized sugarcane mill.

One of the important aspects of realizing smart cities is developing smart homes/buildings and, from the energy perspective, designing and implementing an efficient smart home area energy management system (HAEMS) is vital. To be effective, the HAEMS should include various electrical appliances as well as local distributed/renewable energy resources and energy storage systems, with the whole system as a microgrid. However, the collecting and processing of the data associated with these appliances/resources are challenging in terms of the required sensors/communication infrastructure and computational burden. Thanks to the internet-of-things and cloud computing technologies, the physical requirements for handling the data have been provided, however, they demand suitable optimization/management schemes. In this article, a HAEMS is developed using cloud services to increase the accuracy and speed of the data processing. A management protocol is proposed that provides an optimal schedule for a day-ahead operation of the electrical equipment of smart residential homes under welfare indicators. The proposed system comprises three layers: (1) sensors associated with the home appliances and generation/storage units, (2) local fog nodes, and (3) a cloud where the information is processed bilaterally with HAEMS and the hourly optimal operation of appliances/generation/storage units is planned. The neural network and genetic algorithm (GA) are used as part of the HAEMS program. The neural network is used to predict the amount of workload corresponding to users’ requests. Improving the load factor and the economic efficiency are considered as the objective function that is optimized using GA. Numerical studies are performed in the MATLAB platform and the results are compared with a conventional method.

The article presents the rapid assessment methodology that allows analysts to carry out qualitative monitoring of the living standards of the population using a wide range of methods for statistics processing (factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, method of combining indicators of different dimensions). This methodology is characterized by the high speed of mathematical calculations, availability to users with different skill levels and universal applicability to various study objects. The rapid assessment method is intended for screening the living standards of the population and activity quality of the territorial authorities, taking into account a different set of indicators. This article offers the author’s indicator system for assessing the living standards and quality of life of the population. The methodology algorithm describes flowcharts of the index method for combining statistical observations of different dimensions, which make it possible to automate the process of territory ranking. The study covers 12 urban districts and 43 municipal districts of Rostov Oblast. The methodology described in the article will help eliminate a subjective factor while monitoring, rationally distribute financial resources allocated annually by the authorities to support programs for socio-economic development of the territory, increase the economic efficiency and implementation speed of innovative projects that have a direct impact on the living standards and quality of life of the population.

The study discusses how the process information reserves can be used for improving production flexibility on the basis of production component variation control. Building upon the assumption that the data in question describe the functions of the production components as those experience perturbations, we submit that it may be possible to predict the productivity and economic efficiency for new, previously unused control options. We elaborate on the production components that ensure production flexibility, approaching them as a highly autonomous holon. We determine the conditions that make it possible to analyze the holon control options in isolation from controlling all other components. We also suggest a solution to the problem of predicting the employees’ impact on production. Our suggestion is based on limiting the types of impact accessible to a human operator. The study looks at the reasons behind the uncertainty of production control simulation modeling results, which stem from the peculiarities of the data collected. We propose a criterion for assessing the impact of uncertainty on the productivity indicators’ variation. This study offers a systemic overview of the aspects of a production simulation aimed at assessing the impact of uncertainty on productivity predictions. As an example, we review how uncertainty affects the variation of coke consumption and productivity of a blast furnace, which is ensured by selecting a suitable option for iron ore sinter quality control.

The book under review examines the historical milestones in development of railway transport in the Russian Federation, analyses its rise and main directions of development in the forthcoming period and up to 2030. The authors propose preferable models and methods for decision- making regarding traffic control at the level of stations and sections, describe optimal management decision-making regarding wagon fleet and technology of train and cargo operation, methods and algorithms for decision-making referring to management of locomotive fleet and locomotive crews. Heuristic methods and algorithms for decision-making while solving the problems of forecasting and standardisation of train and cargo operation are studied regarding railway and network dispatching. Methods and models of decision-making ensuring an increase in railway safety are also examined. The examples concern efficient models of decision-making in traffic controlling in the context of network technologies and methods for assessing the economic efficiency of decision-making based on development of intelligent and digital technology.

With the increasing installed capacity of new energy generation, the randomness and volatility of new energy generation has seriously affected the stable operation of the grid. And the traditional generation side dispatching method can no longer meet the demand of the grid to maintain stable operation, which greatly affects the consumption of new energy. In order to improve the rate of new energy consumption and economic efficiency, this paper proposed a regional active distribution network economic evaluation index that takes construction costs, operating costs, and new energy subsidies into account. What is more, the paper summarized the physical constraints of each equipment in the regional active distribution network. Combining the economic evaluation index and the physical constraints, the paper raised a regional active distribution network planning and scheduling model based on robust optimization. Finally, the regional active distribution network planning model based on robust optimization is validated in terms of the new energy consumption rate and the economic benefits by optimizing the examples of load-based regional active distribution network.

In the outskirts of Korean provincial cities, the demand for using route buses is decreasing due to the declining population. Local governments provide subsidies to bus companies to ensure residents’ right to move and maintain route buses. While the local government’s fiscal burden to maintain the route bus system is increasing, the quality of route bus services is gradually decreasing. In order to reduce the increasing financial burden for maintaining the route bus system, and to increase the mobility of residents in areas where public transportation services are weak, it is necessary to operate a demand responsive transport (DRT) that replaces route buses. DRT that replaces route buses is a system that abolishes existing buses and provides DRT services. However, the guidelines suggested by the central government do not have specific criteria for selecting regions that can operate DRT, which replaces route buses. For this reason, each local government is struggling to implement DRT, which replaces route buses. This study suggested a method of route sections in which the taxi-type DRT operation is more economically efficient than the route bus operation by examining the relationship between the cost function of the route bus and the taxi-type DRT. In addition, by applying the method suggested in this study to the vulnerable areas of local buses in Changwon-si, four routes were selected for more effective taxi-type DRT operation than route buses. The method suggested in this study is a general function found through the investigation of the relationship between the cost of running a route bus and the cost of a general taxi. DRT is recognized as a high quality door-to-door transportation mode for local residents where public transportation service is less expensive than a route bus and is believed as fully transferrable in other cities where want to provide DRT services. The suggested analysis framework and data from the results from this research are expected to be utilized in supporting policy making process for local governments that intend to operate DRT replacing route buses in the future.

The concept of smart grid was introduced a decade ago. Demand side management (DSM) is one of the crucial aspects of smart grid that provides users with the opportunity to optimize their load usage pattern to fill the gap between energy supply and demand and reduce the peak to average ratio (PAR), thus resulting in energy and economic efficiency ultimately. The application of DSM programs is lucrative for both utility and consumers. Utilities can implement DSM programs to improve the system power quality, power reliability, system efficiency, and energy efficiency, while consumers can experience energy savings, reduction in peak demand, and improvement of system load profile, and they can also maximize usage of renewable energy resources (RERs). In this paper, some of the strategies of DSM including peak shaving and load scheduling are highlighted. Furthermore, the implementation of numerous optimization techniques on DSM is reviewed.

To achieve more real-time and efficient management of renewable resources and ensure the economic efficiency and environmental friendliness of the process, the renewable resources management mode based on intelligent processing and life cycle analysis was discussed. With the advantages of intelligent processing technology in perception, data collection, information network transmission and intelligent processing, the theory and method of life cycle analysis on environmental impact assessment were applied to the field of renewable resources management, so as to realize efficient and intelligent management of renewable resources. Meanwhile, the environmental effects of various renewable resources should be taken into account, and their respective advantages should be given full play to provide better services for the management of renewable resources.Finally, the combined application of the two was explored by taking the data as the integrating point.

The organization of operation, maintenance and repair of the basic technological facilities of electric power systems (EPS), which are beyond their designed service life (hereinafter referred to as ageing facilities, or AFs) is one of the problems that determine the energy security of many countries, including economically developed nations. The principal cause of insufficient overall performance of AFs is the traditional focus of the EPS management on economic efficiency and the insufficient attention to reliability and safety of AFs. The tendency to nonlinear growth in the frequency of occurrence of unacceptable consequences in the EPS requires ensuring the operational reliability and safety of AFs. The averaged estimates of reliability and safety used at designing power facilities are not suitable for characterization of overall operational performance. Among the basic and the least investigated (in terms of operational reliability and safety) EPS facilities are overhead power transmission lines (OPL) with a voltage of 110 кV and above. This is for a reason. OPL are electric power facilities with elements distributed along a multi-kilometer line (supports, insulators, wires, accessories, etc.). That is what makes the organization of continuous monitoring of the technical condition of each of these elements, and, consequently, the assessment of operational reliability and safety, so problematic. A method is suggested for assessment of “weak links” among the operated OPL on operative intervals of time along with a method for assessment of the technical condition of OPL at examination of a representative sample.

OBJECT. The work is aimed at solving an important problem of increasing the economic efficiency, the level of resource saving and accident-free operation of the first rise section of the centralized water supply systems of small and medium-sized settlements. At the same time, the task is to minimize the cost of electricity associated with the excess performance of pumps, while ensuring the protection of the pipeline from freezing in conditions of negative ambient temperatures. METHODS. To solve this problem, an optimal method for controlling electric drives of first rise pumps at the request of the end user of water was developed, which differs from the existing ones by analyzing the state of the thermal parameters of the pipeline. The method is based on the calculation of control actions based on the water level in the storage reservoir or the water pressure in the pipeline UL and the water temperature at the end of the pipeline UT, followed by the calculation of the optimal pump supply setpoint, which is then maintained by the frequency control method. The Matlab® Simulink simulation model was used to determine the optimal laws for calculating control actions and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions. RESULTS. Based on the simulation results, it was found that it is advisable to use the PID law for calculating the control effect for the UL level, the PD law for the UT temperature, and the PI law for the flow rate. The parameters of the technological process and the level of power consumption in the control process were also evaluated. CONCLUSIONS. Studies of the proposed concept of managing the first rise section have shown high technical and economic efficiency, in particular, the savings in electricity consumption are estimated at about 22 % while ensuring the protection of the pipeline from freezing.

The article is dedicated to the problem of optimization of chain drives of the drilling unit. At present, increasing the power per machine to the optimal limits, reducing the material and energy consumption per unit capacity of the machine, as well as operating costs are considered topical issues. The machines that are designed and constructed to optimal limits must be very powerful and productive. The machines that are applied to perform drilling works in the oil and gas industry must be easy to operate, reliable and have ability to operate for a long time. When constructing such machines, their being lightweight, economical, as well as their preparation in a short time and at low cost should be taken into account in advance. In order to ensure the reliable operation of drilling rigs, it is more expedient to apply chain drive in their mechanical transmission. First of all, the application of chain drive in drilling units and hoisting mechanisms is considered. Then a calculation method was developed for the chain drives of the drilling unit used in deep exploration wells and the exploitation of wells, and, accordingly, the calculation of the chain drive was carried out. The chain drive consists of drive and driven sprockets and a chain that encompasses the sprockets and engages in their teeth. Chain drives with several driven sprockets are also used. In addition to the basic listed elements, chain drives include tensioners, lubricating device and guards. The chain consists of hinged links that provide mobility or “flexibility” of the chain. Chain drives can be performed in a wide range of parameters. The calculation took into account the quality of the material, the service life and durability of the chain drive construction

Introduction. Innovation is one of the major factors of economic growth in modern economy on the macrolevel, and a prominent contributor to an enterprise's profit increase at microlevel. Nevertheless, innovation activity is accompanied by a high level of risk and may cause significant losses. Thus, the problem of limiting the risk by developing rational methods of decision making is relevant. Aim and tasks. The article aims at development of integrated methodology for taking a decision as to selection of rational innovative production alternative based on the usage of a group of decision making methods in dependency on conditions under which the decision is being taken. Results. The article analyses decision making process in the context of system approach and defines stages of decision making. Criteria of effective decision are described and classified. Methods of decision making are observed and classified according to the conditions of decision making. The necessary components of integrated methodology of selection of rational innovative production alternative are defined. The formation principles and general structure of the integrated methodology of selection of rational innovative production alternative are described. Conclusions. The task of decision effectiveness assessment is complicated by simultaneous existence of number of performance goals with different suitability for formal evaluation, negative correlation between speed and accuracy of decision making, and temporal distance between decision making process and goal achievement, which requires employment of discounting methods. The above-mentioned factors determine the necessity for an integrated criterion, which includes economic efficiency indicators but is not reduced to them. Thus, integrated methodology of selection of rational innovative production alternative consists of multicriteria decision making solution, assessment of sufficient range of alternatives, allowance for uncertainty as to input information about criteria, inclusion of different types of criteria measurement, provision of possibility to use alternative information at all stages of decision making process.

Мета. Мета дослідження – зважаючи на функціональне навантаження системи контролінгу, моніторингу та діагностики, визначити методичний підхід до контролю результативності в процесі моніторингу виробничих параметрів функціонування аграрних підприємств і діагностики проблемних аспектів забезпечення фінансово-економічного результату з метою обґрунтування управлінських рішень при плануванні перспективних виробничих програм. Методологія / методика / підхід. Дослідження проводили на основі використання загальнонаукових методів (при дослідженні теоретичного підґрунтя функцій контролінгу, моніторингу та діагностики управлінської діяльності в забезпеченні ефективності прийняття управлінських рішень при плануванні структури посівних площ), абстрактно-логічного (для узагальнення особливостей впливу ступеня використання інтенсивних культур на результативність зернового напряму аграрних підприємств), економіко-математичного (для ідентифікації оптимальної стратегії дії в умовах інформаційної невизначеності менеджменту аграрних підприємств, пов’язаною із наявністю слабоструктурованих проблем), статистичних методів (теорії статистичних рішень для моделювання механізму взаємовпливу сільськогосподарських культур у заданих умовах забезпечення природними ресурсами) та конструктивного (для визначення способу обґрунтування оптимальних потоків ресурсів і результатів діяльності з метою максимізації прибутковості діяльності за умови сталості ресурсної основи). Методологічним підґрунтям в опрацюванні матеріалу виступив діалектичний метод пізнання суспільно-економічних явищ. Результати. У ході проведення наукового дослідження проаналізовано умови формування обґрунтованої системи землеробства суб’єктами господарювання та діагностовано передумови вироблення вірогідних управлінських дій у забезпеченні сталої прибутковості підприємств. Установлено, що в умовах Луганської області критичне підвищення частки соняшника в посівах є реактивною поведінкою управлінської практики менеджменту. Обґрунтовано за даними діагностичного аналізу відповідну залежність управлінських рішень щодо планування структури посівних площ від сприйняття сприятливості умов господарювання. Визначено основні параметри статистичного моделювання для реалізації діагностичних функцій з ідентифікації вірогідних управлінських дій у забезпеченні сталої прибутковості підприємств. Оригінальність / наукова новизна. Наукова новизна представленого дослідження полягає в удосконаленні методичного підходу до реалізації функцій контролінгу, моніторингу та діагностики в процесі обґрунтування перспективної виробничої програми аграрного підприємства в зазначених умовах господарювання, який, на відміну від наявних, ґрунтується на використанні методології теорії ігор і дозволяє виявляти певні закономірності підтримки високої фінансово-економічної результативності в дослідженні інформації (параметрів) про технологічну дисципліну, що не має чіткого математичного (регресійного) зв’язку. Практична цінність / значущість. У ролі перспективного завдання розвитку системи контролінгу, моніторингу та діагностики визначено формування механізмів програмування розвитку зернового господарства, як головного напряму спеціалізації в степових умовах господарювання Луганської області, на принципах галузевої конкурентоспроможності, що дозволить частково виключити реактивність системи менеджменту аграрних підприємств.

Fourth industrial revolution covers all areas of human economic activity, including areas related to the design and operation of various products (nuclear power plant building, freight car, MEMS devices, etc.) throughout their entire life cycle. One of the main tools for digital transformation of industry to meet new competitive requirements is the Digital Twin, which is always built for a specific physical object. The introduction of digital twins technology into the life cycle of a freight car will increase economic efficiency throughout its life cycle.Effective use of the digital twin technology is possible only when an adequate virtual model of the space surrounding this physical object is created. In this regard, predicting the behavior of a structure during motion on the basis of a high-precision model of a digital twin of a physical object requires the creation of a virtual space in which a virtual operation area will be implemented, which provides the possibility of mathematical modeling of motion. To do this, it is necessary to create virtual stands and operation areas, where it will be possible to carry out numerical tests. Creation of a high-quality virtual space will drastically reduce the number of field tests carried out, and study the effect of a larger number of parameters on the performance characteristics of a physical object.Creation and use of digital twins is consistent with the goals, objectives and action plan of the Strategy for the development of transport engineering in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030. The introduction of digital twins in railway transport, in particular in freight rolling stock, will make it possible to correctly assign the service life, overhaul times, and increase operational efficiency, collect information about the real load, etc. To maintain competitive advantages over other modes of transport, the transport industry needs to develop towards the introduction of elements of the fourth industrial revolution, including digital twins.

Port State Control (PSC) guarantees that foreign ships do not jeopardize marine safety, security, and the environment when entering foreign ports. To share inspection information and improve the efficiency of PSC, countries in the same regions cooperate and follow memoranda of understanding (MoUs). Globally, a total of ten MoUs govern three different inspection regimes designed to select and inspect substandard ships. In this study, we use a super-slacks-based measure (super-SBM) to evaluate and compare the inspection efficiency of the three inspection regimes implemented by these ten MoUs and relies on the Malmquist production index (MPI) to identify the most applicable regimes. Our analyses produce three main conclusions. First, we use the average scores of the super-SBM in the past 11 years to confirm the efficiency rankings of the ten MoUs. Second, we combine the average efficiency scores of the three inspection regimes to show that the New Inspection Regime (NIR) is more economically efficient than other inspection regimes. Third, we use MPI scores to obtain a better understanding of the efficiency changes in MoUs' productivity over time and confirm that the NIR is more stable than other inspection regimes.

The chemical method of plant protection is very common, as its advantages are biological and economic efficiency and a wide range of pesticides. Sprayers of various designs are used to treat plants with pesticides in agriculture. The problem of plant protection with chemicals is becoming increasingly important nowadays in agriculture. The state’s agricultural production loses almost a third of the gross harvest in crop production from pests, diseases, and weeds. The existing chemical protection of crops needs to be developed and improved. This article raises the need of developing new analytical approaches to the design and implementation of spraying plants working bodies that meet modern technological requirements by improving the aerodynamic sprayer flow performance. The design of the spray can be considered perfect in aerodynamic terms if it shows the absence of boundary layer separation from the wall, or if the separation area is located as downstream as possible. To do this, the calculation determines the place of boundary layer separation from the wall based on the study of the working fluid two-phase environment and metabolic processes occurring in it, characteristics that significantly affect the formation and development of the boundary layer and its separation. This approach helps to reduce energy losses. Based on the study of existing analytical solutions that can be adapted to two-phase media in the channel of the working fluid atomizer movement model, in combination with the graph analytical method of constructing the channel surfaces. The paper established that the non-uniformity degree reduction of the velocity field in any section of the spraying device largely depends on the smooth transition from one section to another.

The volume of transportation organized in agricultural enterprises is constantly growing. At the same time, it is recommended to use tractor transport for transportation carried out on the field and dirt roads. To ensure efficient operation of the tractor unit, which is an energy tool, hitch, and trailer, it is necessary to meet several conditions: 1) rational choice of the range of trailers, taking into account the conditions of their operation; 2) ensuring optimal performance of technical and operational properties of tractor units. As a result of the analysis of the correlation between the technical and operational indicators of trailers and energy indicators of tractors, it was found that the selection of trailers should be carried out using the load capacity of the trailer as an indicator. It is established that the use of this indicator will allow forming a trailer composition taking into account the influence of such indicators as tangential traction force, specific fuel consumption. This, in turn, will allow in the process of substantiating the composition of the transport unit to assess the economic efficiency of its operation. Key words: tractor, trailer, load capacity, weight, energy saturation

Deterioration and aging of the technical fleet of thermal power facilities lead to an unpredictable shutdowns of power equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to create a special approach in maintenance and repair programs, taking into account the possibility of predicting the moment of onset of the defect, its development, as well as the time of possible equipment failure. The equipment maintenance system used at the enterprises is based on the collection of retrospective data on defects and failures on the main and auxiliary equipment of the TPP and summarizing statistics on identical or similar equipment samples. Analysis of domestic and foreign methods of maintenance and organization of repair, as well as possibility of their application in modern power engineering is given. In order to create an efficient production asset management system, which addresses the problem of finding a balance between the potential risk of losses associated with both the operation of equipment and the cost of correcting defects, new class systems are now used in the software market, which carry out equipment maintenance based on the forecast. In order to optimize the equipment maintenance system and ensure uninterrupted and reliable operation of the equipment at minimum operating costs, as well as to reduce equipment downtime, unscheduled and emergency operations, it is advisable to use a modern approach to manage both reliability and risk, as well as the cost of asset ownership. This will enable to control the economic efficiency of the use of production assets. The necessity of creation of an algorithm of implementation of repair programs of power equipment base on technical condition for its use in digital power systems is shown. An algorithm is proposed for implementing the repair program of power units of electric power plants, including steam boilers and turbines of thermal power plants, differing by taking into account the technical condition of power equipment, which allows recognizing the defect that has appeared, determining the cause of its occurrence, its evolution and the duration of possible equipment failure. In the developed repair maintenance algorithm, it is proposed to make a transition from statistical empirical assessments of the technical condition of the equipment to objective estimates obtained on the basis of automated technical diagnostics systems and predictive analysis of situations.

The reliability of heat supply in cities is largely determined by the actual condition of pipelines, for example, corrosive and erosive wear. Comparative analysis of methodological approaches to assessing the technical condition of district heating networks shows that the most innovative and effective approach is internal pipe inspection using non-destructive magnetic testing. The article presents the results of research tests of the method in the context of its use for maintenance and retrofitting of the heating infrastructure in Yekaterinburg, a Russian city with a complex topology of utility networks and extremely uneven tear and wear on some sections of the networks. The authors describe the techni-cal and economic peculiarities of using internal pipe inspection methods at various stages of testing and formulate qualitative and quantitative criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the method being presented. Recommendations have been suggested for the optimum application of the method by heat network operators, especially those operating and servicing district heating systems. © 2021 WIT Press, www.witpress.com. The work was supported by Act 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation, contract №. 02.A03.21.0006.

Today, there is a tendency to shift the focus of management from structural units to treatment and diagnostic processes in Russian healthcare institutions. To organize effective management of the treatment and diagnostic process, it is necessary to have its formalized description. This article presents the main results of a study conducted on the basis of N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine, which was aimed at the development of an organizational and methodological approach to the description and standardization of treatment and diagnostic processes, taking into account the specifics of the activities of a multidisciplinary medical hospital. When developing the organizational and methodological approach, the methods of system analysis and modeling, factual data on the structure and parameters of the treatment and diagnostic processes of the hospital, as well as the experience and expert opinions of the Institute staff were used. In the course of the study, the analysis of the organizational and economic characteristics of the treatment and diagnostic processes was carried out and the requirements for the format of their description and the introduction of the notation into the practice of the hospital were formulated. Taking into account these requirements, the authors have developed and presented the format of the modified operogramme, which combines the ability to reflect both the logic of the process and the interaction of its participants, and the resource characteristics of the actions of the process. The article presents an organizational and methodological approach to the description and standardization of treatment and diagnostic processes, developed and tested by the authors, based on modified operogrammes and tables of summary resource characteristics. The organizational part of the approach is based on the principle of maximum involvement of medical personnel of various categories in the description and standardization of processes through the formation of small groups, as well as on a system of multi-level examination of the developed models, checking them on statistical data to confirm the adequacy of expert assessments. In N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine 15 small groups work on the main profiles of medical and diagnostic care on a regular basis, more than 150 doctors are involved in the description and standardization, 232 models of complex medical and diagnostic processes, surgical interventions, active methods of treatment and diagnostics have been developed. The operogrammes and summary tables of resource characteristics prepared using the above-described organizational and methodological approach, agreed within the hospital, become the basis for solving various organizational and economic tasks, including the development of internal recommendations, checklists, calculation of standard cost, resource planning, etc.

Double auction is becoming the preferred negotiation protocol for cloud service negotiation due to its economic efficiency, capability in facilitating dynamic pricing, and suitability for handling a large number of customers and service providers. However, as far as this research work is concerned, there is no framework using double auction that simultaneously and comprehensively addresses the heterogeneity of cloud services in multi-attributes negotiation. Before such a framework can be designed, suitable multi-attributes negotiation techniques and its attributes should be identified. Therefore, this paper’s objective is to distinguish and provide an overview of multi-attributes techniques used in double auction negotiations. The sources are from the Scopus Database. It is found that the current multi-attributes techniques lacked in addressing the preferential dependency, selective attributes and utility optimization simultaneously in double auction frameworks. These concerns need to be addressed in order to devise a practical framework. The future direction for double auction framework in multi-attributes negotiation is suggested.

This research provides an analytical review of measures to mitigate the impact of winds and flow on a railway track based on publications in English, Russian, French, Chinese and Spanish, identifies general and specific experience in the application of measures in a socio-geographical context, consistently sets out their physical and technical characteristics and advantages and disadvantages of technological solutions, identified prospects for further research to improve their technical, technological and economic efficiency.

The purpose of the study is to increase the productivity and economic efficiency of mining operations using screening bucket excavators on the basis of the introduction of a new technical and technological solution that expands equipment functionality. The study involves the analysis of known designs of screening buckets installed on excavators that ensure material separation to be carried out simultaneously with excavation and loading works. It is noted that a promising development direction of screening buckets is a design with working drums. The article presents an excavator with a modernized screening bucket and its operation technology, which allows to start rock mass sorting in the bucket while the excavator is turning to the place of unloading. The improved screening bucket is equipped with a hinged movable bottom controlled by hydraulic cylinders to accumulate fine fractions screened through the working drums. Fine fractions accumulated in the moving bottom are unloaded into a dump truck, after which screening continues directly into the body of the dump truck. Screening finished, the movable bottom closes and the excavator unloads the coarse fractions remaining in the bucket into another vehicle. Unloading is carried out by bucket turning. The combination of screening and excavator turning reduces the operation cycle time, which increases the performance of both the excavator and dump trucks. The use of a modernized screening bucket with a moving bottom eliminates the loss of valuable fine material as a result of spilling when the excavator turns for unloading. The movable bottom can be installed on the screening buckets of known designs and does not require their significant alteration. Application of the proposed technical and technological solution will reduce unit costs and increase the efficiency of work.

Optimization of photovoltaic (PV) panel orientation is a significant part of economic evaluation. However, designing a PV system according to only one theoretical optimal orientation is challenging. Installing a PV panel at a specific orientation can cause low economic efficiency, depending on the features of the area. Therefore, in this study, a new term—the tolerance angle—is introduced for quantitatively analyzing the tolerance of the optimal orientation. This term provides a range for the optimal panel orientation according to the target loss and can be used in decision making for practical optimization of PV panel orientation. The validation of the assumption in the definition and calculation model for the tolerance angle is presented and analyzed. Additionally, a simple calculation formula for the theoretical optimal orientation and tolerance angle is derived. The formula can be used in practical applications without complex calculations or considerable data. The tolerance angle is useful in many practical applications, including sites with restrictions. The results of this study are expected to enhance the practicality of panel orientation optimization and thereby improve actual PV panel installation.

As increasingly complex and optimized energy systems prepare to cope with a variety of risks including climate shocks and extreme weather events, a myopic focus on economic efficiency can significantly jeopardize critical energy services.

The article aims to develop recommendations for improving the mechanism of monitoring the economic efficiency of implementing the system-functional approach in the management of innovative development of construction enterprises.During the research, there was used morphological analysis - to structure the object of study, models and methods of system analysis, tools for forming topological spaces and axiomatics of set theory - to explain object monitoring's logic Bayesian equation - estimate the probability of alternative events.As a result of the study, the object of monitoring is morphologically structured, topologies for analysis of the state of the object of monitoring are presented, and equations for estimating the probability of alternative events that characterize changes in the object of monitoring are constructed.The scientific novelty of the study lies in improving the mechanism for monitoring the economic efficiency of the system-functional approach in the management of innovative development of construction enterprises, which, unlike the existing ones, is based on morphological analysis tools, identification of topological and metric spaces, construction and solution of Bayes' equations.The practical value of the research results lies in developing methodological tools for managing the innovative development of construction companies based on a system-functional approach, particularly in terms of improving the monitoring mechanism. The author's proposals can be used in practical business structures (construction companies) of all forms of ownership., Мета статті полягає у розробленні рекомендацій із удосконалення механізму моніторингу економічної ефективності застосування системно-функціонального підходу в управлінні інноваційним розвитком будівельних підприємств.Під час дослідження застосовано: морфологічний аналіз – для структурування об’єкта дослідження; моделі та методи системного аналізу, інструментарій формування топологічних просторів і аксіоматику теорії множин – для пояснення логіки моніторингу об’єкта; рівняння Баєса – для оцінювання ймовірностей настання альтернативних подій.У результаті виконаного дослідження морфологічно-структуровано об’єкт моніторингу, представлено топології для аналізу стану об’єкта моніторингу, а також побудовано рівняння для оцінювання ймовірностей настання альтернативних подій, які характеризують зміни в об’єкті моніторингу.Наукова новизна виконаного дослідження полягає в удосконаленні механізму моніторингу економічної ефективності застосування системно-функціонального підходу в управлінні інноваційним розвитком будівельних підприємств, який, на відміну від існуючих, базується на інструментарії морфологічного аналізу, ідентифікуванні топологічно-метричних просторів, побудові і розв’язанні системи рівнянь Беєса.Практична цінність результатів дослідження полягає у розробленні методичного інструментарію із управління інноваційним розвитком будівельних підприємств на засадах системно-функціонального підходу, зокрема – в частині удосконалення механізму моніторингу. Авторські пропозиції можуть бути використані в практичній діяльності підприємницьких структур (будівельних підприємств) усіх форм власності.

The basis for calculating the cost price of any product, including laboratory tests, is based on an estimate of direct costs of the production. At present, there are no systematic ideas about the structure of such costs, and approaches to their analysis have not been defined, in the management practice of medical laboratories. The purpose of this work was developing and testing a method for analyzing the structure of direct costs and their allocation bases when calculating the cost of a laboratory test. We analyzed data on the volume of laboratory tests performed in the clinical diagnostic laboratory of the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology, prices for purchased reagents and consumables, depreciation and maintenance costs of equipment, staff salaries. As a result, we proposed a typical component structure of direct costs, established the allocation bases of fixed costs, and determined the ratio of some variable cost components to onе product unit cost. On the basis of these concepts, an algorithm for calculating the total direct laboratory (technological) cost per test has been developed, which makes it possible to simulate the cost structure under conditions of arbitrarily specified variables. During the testing of the algorithm, the values of direct costs and the technological cost per test were calculated for billable (ordered) laboratory tests. Comparison of the economic efficiency of various methods, as well as modeling of changes in the cost depending on the volume of testing and the turn-around time (TAT) has been performed. It can be concluded that the approach to creating the tables of the technological cost per test based on dividing direct costs into variable and fixed costs and structuring them by components and allocation bases is an effective tool for medical laboratory management.

The aim of the work is to scientifically substantiate the basic aspects of developing a methodology for including сost-effectiveness analysis in key processes of clinical trials of medicines. Results. It is established that Ukrainian regulatory system and methodological support of clinical trials with included сost-effectiveness analysis is based on separate regulations in the field of clinical trial and health technology assessment. At the same time, there is no methodological support for the management of сost-effectiveness analysis alongside clinical trials, which would take into account the peculiarities of planning, organizing and conducting such studies. The algorithm of substantiation, development and inclusion of basic components of the analysis of economic effectiveness in the basic processes of planning and the organization of clinical trial of medicines is offered. Emphasis is placed on the need for a proper strategy for analyzing the economic efficiency of the studied medical technologies in clinical trials. The importance of proper selection of economic evaluation models (cost minimization, cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit) in accordance with the purpose of the clinical trial, the primary hypothesis and the selected primary and secondary endpoints is determined. Conclusions. It is determined that there are certain problems of methodological and organizational nature for the development of clinical trials with included сost-effectiveness analysis and economic endpoints. The solution of these tasks should begin at the planning stage of the study by implementing the basic step-by-step recommendations. Innovative treatment technologies that have potential health benefits are often investigated in clinical trials. Thus, the introduction of pharmacoeconomic analysis methods into the structure of traditional clinical trials is an additional important tool to ensure the effective functioning and development of health technology assessment. In further research it is planned to develop scientific and practical approaches to ensure the proper implementation of management processes of сost-effectiveness analysis alongside clinical trial and analysis of data on their results. Keywords: clinical trials; health technology assessment; algorithms; economic models; procedures

The article is devoted to the problem of developing the method for evaluating the efficiency of digital projects, taking into account their specifics. The authors revealed the features of digital projects such as the shortened life cycle, the high-risk and complex nature, dematerialization of assets. The paper presents the analysis of approaches to evaluating the efficiency. This analysis shows that the most of approaches takes into account only economic efficiency, while the introduction of digital technologies involves obtaining a technical effect. To minimize the risks of project implementation, the authors propose to use the comprehensive approach for evaluating the efficiency of digital projects which involved several indicators. It involves an assessment of the economic and technical efficiency. The economic efficiency is assessed with such indicators as the cost price, the resource intensity, the growth potential. Harrington's desirability function is used for evaluating the technical efficiency.

The use of low-potential energy sources is an urgent problem of our time, as more than 70% of the energy used by mankind is lost in the form of low-potential waste. A promising technology of converting such thermal energy into electricity is the thermoelectric method. The scale of use of any technology depends on its efficiency. The problem of TEG efficiency can be divided into two separate tasks—the task of creating efficient thermoelectric materials, and the task of optimizing the parameters of thermoelectric devices. In real conditions the last task plays a significant, often crucial, role. Therefore, many works are devoted to their research. The fundamental basis for solving this problem is the mathematical modeling of the thermoelectric generator circuit, which includes a heat source, a thermoelectric converter, a cooling system, and a payload. In this paper the author presents some generalized results of previous research that can benefit the developers of thermoelectric devices. The first part of the article presents the basics of the methodology used. Next, I draw attention to the possibility of better tuning of the properties of thermoelectric materials to a specific task in case of considering external conditions. The final part of the paper provides an assessment of technical and economic indicators of TEG and formulates the conditions under which this technology can ensure competitiveness in the modern energy market.

A reliability evaluation of the unique equipment in the nuclear fuel fabrication/refabrication module of a pilot-demonstration energy complex during process operations is a pressing problem that affects both the economic efficiency and the safety of the entire complex. The developed approaches to the qualitative and quantitative reliability analysis are aimed at accounting for features of the fabrication/refabrication module such as the absence of direct analogues of unique equipment and the conditions of its operation as well as the lack of research on the behavior of nuclear materials under certain conditions. The results of a probabilistic analysis of the reliability of the section for carbothermal synthesis of mixed uranium and plutonium nitrides and the fabrication/refabrication module as a whole are presented as an example. The computational models construction for the fabrication/refabrication module made it possible to determine ways to increase the technical utilization factor. The obtained results will be used in the analysis of the module’s fire safety and further in a risk analysis of the complex.

Designing energy-efficient security techniques for Internet of Things (IoT) networks is particularly vital due to its limited battery capacity and the flow of information via broadcasting. In this article, we propose retrodirective frequency diversity array (RDFDA) based on directional modulation (DM) concept in a time-modulated way to enhance security in IoT. Different from the existing IoT security, in the proposed scheme, the prior knowledge of the intended receivers’ location is not required for the transmitter and no need of channel state information. Leveraging on this feature, we design time controlling switch sequences, which require a single radio frequency chain. To facilitate the DM operation in the proposed RDFDA, the connecting–disconnecting switching functionality for each element branch needs to be judiciously selected. Furthermore, we give insights on how the useful messages can be leaked along the eavesdropper (Eve) direction when an outage has occurred as well as Eve error detectability by analyzing the following metrics such as secrecy outage probability, Eve detecting error probability, and leakage rate of noncolluding Eves. Other metrics, such as secrecy energy efficiency, economic efficiency, and cost efficiency were also analyzed. We give numerical results to disclose the proposed scheme achievements.

The first-priority directions for modern engineering, especially for multiproduct manufacturing, include the intensification of manufacturing processes, increasing the efficiency of technological equipment, and reducing the time required to implement technological solutions. Fixture design is a complicated and time-consuming process that requires considering many parameters of the closed-loop technological system “machine tool — fixture — cutting tool — workpiece”. One machined part can have several fixture layouts corresponding to all specified parameters; however, their effectiveness differs depending on production conditions. Search for an optimal fixture for specified production conditions is an essential stage of production planning. It has been proved that the efficiency of a manufacturing process should be assessed using single economic indicator — the cost of machining, which considers the costs of time, the total costs for process realisation, and a batch of parts. The paper aims to substantiate the efficiency of manufacturing processes in machining complex parts using flexible fixtures by developing a mathematical model that considers the cost of time, the cost of implementing the manufacturing process, and the batch value of parts production. This approach estimates the efficiency of manufacturing processes for machining complex parts and choosing the flexible fixture layout that corresponds to specific production conditions. It was proved that flexible fixtures could be effectively used for machining small batches of parts with frequent readjustments to new workpieces and short-term machining. A tendency has been established that the higher number of nomenclature of parts contributes to expanding the scope of the effective use of flexible fixtures.

The article is devoted to solving the problem of optimizing the tariff policy, which is relevant for the passenger complex, with the most rational use of the rolling stock. Principles of economic and mathematical modeling are presented in order to determine the optimal number of cars in passenger trains and prices for travel in a single calculation process called complex optimization. Developed models make it possible to form optimal train schemes in accordance with the predicted demand, balancing supply and demand for transportation, which, in turn, radically increases its economic efficiency. Simultaneously with finding the optimal schemes by the method of complex optimization, such fares are determined at which the balance of supply and demand is achieved with the maximum possible economic effect. The article discusses the analytical models of passenger demand, the principles of implementation of the complex optimization procedure, the problems of forecasting passenger demand and the features of calculating the forecast of demand for the example of train No. 17/18 “Karelia” on the Petrozavodsk—Moscow route, and also offers a solution to the problem of determining the optimal prices and train schemes. On the example of real data of the operation of this train, the effectiveness of the automated system for managing the profitability of passenger traffic, created on the basis of complex optimization algorithms, was evaluated. It is shown that the developed analytical models of passenger demand allow solving optimization problems that increase the efficiency of automated control systems for the economic indicators of the transportation process, and the multi-model forecasting system provides satisfactory accuracy with a high level of forecast detail. Due to the fact that the level of expenses for train journeys radically affects the result of optimization of the transportation process with variable train schemes, the adopted optimization criterion takes into account both income and transportation costs. The results of calculations are presented showing that the complex optimization procedure for the “Karelia” train could give a significant additional financial result.

This paper addresses the final stage of the study concerning the practical use of the best Russian methods, technologies and means for detecting and extinguishing forest fires in Russia. In general, the work is aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the forest fire protection system by improving the methodological and technical support for the use of the best new innovations. In the course of the study, analytical methods have been applied, tested and used in silviculture, while developing and improving the regulatory legal and methodological frameworks. Based on the selection of research directions in the preliminary stages of work, analysis of the current state, use, and the development forecast of the most effective and promising technologies was carried out. In addition, for detecting, controlling and extinguishing forest fires, including a comparative analysis of their economic efficiency, methods for practical use of the best Russian innovations was developed. A significant number of new developments have accumulated which, for a number of reasons, have not been implemented. Taking into account the current state and dynamics of these promising methods, technologies, means of detecting and extinguishing forest fires, this study substantiates the development forecast of these promising innovations and their content. Its structure includes general provisions, concepts and terminology, regulatory support, the procedure for assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of the innovations, as well as a list of recommended documents for studying the use of technology for detecting, controlling and extinguishing forest fires. These methods will help meet modern requirements for the protection of forests from wildfires, and present an algorithm for their implementation in practice.

Product packaging has a huge impact on the efficiency of supply chain activities. In this research, the concept of Design for Assembly (DFA), proved in earlier studies to be effective at improving product manufacturing operations, is applied to the packaging system. We formulate the packaging system as a mathematical model for three different objectives. With respect to the continual rise in attention paid to sustainability, this research adds sustainability as one of the primary objectives. A case study demonstrates that the proposed model can achieve desired results and reveals a level of consistency among the three objectives. In addition to the application of DFA concepts to a packaging system, the contributions of this research lie in the development of a mathematical model (using integer programming and goal programming) for calculating the cost, handling time, and sustainability of the objectives in line with the design needs of the multi-level packaging size from the perspective of a supply chain to provide a range of solutions offering increased options for firms.