Purpose. To improve the distribution methods of freight flows on the railway network under conditions of capacity constraints. Methodology. Methods of railway operation theory and operations research were used. The problem of cargo flow distribution on the railway network was solved as a multi-product (interchangeable cargoes) transport linear programming problem with capacity constraints in the network form. The average cost of freight transportation is established by the methods of probability theory. Findings. In the course of the research the methods of cargo traffic calculation on the railway network are improved. The proposed approach to the formalisation of the task makes it possible to take into account the presence of different cargoes to be transported, capacity constraints of some railway network sections, as well as non-linear nature of dependence between the volume and cost of transportation. To meet the requirement of consignors equal access to public carrier services, the method for calculating the cost of transportation for an individual consignor is improved. Originality. Scientific novelty of the paper consists in improvement of methods of cargo traffic distribution on the railway network and tariffing of cargo transportation services in conditions of restricted supply capacity of separate sections. Practical value. The extractive industries have a steady flow of goods. The main logistic tasks in this case are to ensure transportation of the given volume of cargo and reduce the cost of transport services. Using the proposed mathematical methods of optimization allows you to get higher-quality solutions compared to the method of technical-economic comparison of options, which provides an overall cost reduction for cargo transportation. The improved method of tariffication of transportation can reasonably allocate the savings from reducing the cost of transportation among cargo consignors and thus reduce their logistics costs.

Purpose. When assessing occupational risks (OR) of professional activities of employees of the motor transport company (MTC), there is often a problem to determine the probability of a hazardous event and the severity of its consequences under the influence of various cognitive biases. Therefore, there arises an urgent issue of taking into account the cognitive biases and their influence on the assessment of PR. This is achieved by studying the impact of awareness and worldview of employees on the assessment of PR and developing recommendations for reducing cognitive bias in determining the likelihood of a hazardous event. Methodology. The study involved 87 employees of the motor transport company of different ages, experience and level of education, who were interviewed on a specially designed checklist which provides for the ranking of harmful factors that affect the employee when performaning production tasks, taking into account the impact of five cognitive biases on the value the probability of a hazardous event. Findings. According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that motor transport company workers with significant professional experience were most concerned about the intensity and pace of work, as well as the number of repetitive movements, which significantly affected the level of safety when performaning production tasks. Less experienced workers highlighted the intensity of work, the pace of work and the monotony of work and from the point of view of males, the greatest concern was the intensity and monotony of work, in contrast to females who are concerned about the pace of work and uncomfortable posture. It is determined that employees perceive occupational risk more optimistically if they understand that it is controlled. There has also been a deteriorating trend due to a lack of time to conduct a proper analysis of the impact of harmful factors on workers’ health. Originality. Relationship is established between cognitive biases that occur in employees during the assessment of OR with the determination of the probability of a hazardous situation, which increases the probability of errors from 10 to 20 % during professional activities. Practical value. Recommendations are developed to reduce the impact of subjective assessment on the magnitude of PR, which is based on increasing the number of participants with different worldviews, experience, education.

Purpose. To achieve an integrated approach to assess the readiness of a higher educational institution for digital transformation in the form of a multi-criteria analysis of the university activities and development. Methodology. The approach of educational institutions rating assessment, based on a hierarchical criterion, called the Index of Information and Communication Technologies Development (hereinafter ICT Index) is proposed in the work. The approach is considered to be an analogy of the Networked Readiness Index developed by the Information Technology Group at Harvard Universitys Center. Findings. It is proposed to follow the approach of the ICT Index calculating as a universal metric for the digital transformation level assessment of educational institutions based on the Networked Readiness Index, namely to adopt abstract categories of top-level criteria and to average the values of hierarchical nesting. Originality. The approach originality consists in the weight coefficients input at any level of the hierarchy. In addition, the approach provides a flexible choice of the Index resulting scale for the most understandable interpretation of the results, as well as the universal mathematical apparatus development for Index calculating. The proposed mathematical apparatus can be easily modified for any specificity of an educational institution and its criteria. Practical value. The use of the ICT Index for all educational institutions in Kazakhstan will solve the problems of automating processes to ensure training and expanding the technological capabilities of educational institutions for modifying the forms of education at the state level by bringing the assessment indicators of all objects to a single scale.