Amiridis K., Psarianos B.
APPLICATION OF DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY TO SOLVE THE HIGHWAY ALIGNMENT LOCATION PROBLEM ^{[№ 10 ' 2014]}
The objective of this paper is to develop a mathematical methodology that allows the design of the 3-d alignment of a road directly in space thus overcoming the conventional approach of studying the three-dimensional road configuration separately and sequentially in its horizontal and vertical alignment. Initially, the proposed methodology is based on the fact that the road centerline is actually a three-dimensional curve, whereas the road as a whole is in turn a three-dimensional surface. In other words, the geometric road alignment is faced as the mathematical definition of a three-dimensional curve (road centerline) and a three-dimensional surface (road surface). There are many ways to represent and study a three-dimensional curve. However, in the suggested methodology the road centerline (3-d curve) is selected to be approached as a three-dimensional B-spline curve on the grounds that it has certain significant properties regarding highway engineering which will be described in the discussion that follows. Indeed, the road surface (3-d surface) is selected to be approached as a three-dimensional B-spline surface. The field of mathematics which is most relevant in studying curves and surfaces is differential geometry. This is why the mathematical background used in the methodology is directly associated with concepts incorporated in differential geometry which are expressed and linked to terms of highway engineering. The computational part of this approached is attained by expressing the functions in code through the programming language offered by the software Mathematica, whereas the whole process is demonstrated as a case study.

D'Alessandro C., Psarianos V.
THE TEMPUS PROJECT HDMCURF: QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES ^{[№ 10 ' 2014]}
This paper presents the Quality Assurance process developed in the framework of the project "HDMCuRF — Highway Design and Management: Curricular Reform for Russian Federation Design and Implementation of Higher Education Master Courses in Russia" funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission within the framework of the TEMPUS IV program. The project supported the transfer of EU higher education best practices in Highway Design and Management to develop advanced university courses to train competent resources in Russian Universities. The project made available, to Russian Universities, knowledge, management approaches, modelling and assessment techniques which are adapted and taken over by the Russian higher education system. Those best practices are based on the principles of the European Credit Transfer System and the recognition of the university degree. The EU participants shared best practices, training management and quality assurance approaches according to the Bologna principles and in line with Level 7 of the European Qualification Framework to support the development and diffusion of an innovative experience in technical higher education in Russian institutions supporting the capacity and knowledge building in highway design and management.