It is vital to select the right project bidders, as this affects the success of a project. Although there are numerous methods for assessing bidders, communication is rarely taken into account. This paper discusses the results of a survey on communication key performance indicators (KPIs) and the success of construction projects. Data were collected from 390 construction partners in Spain. The results indicate that the most significant communication KPI is the quality of information: basically, its accuracy and timeliness. In addition, experienced respondents placed less importance on communication flow structures and communication management than did inexperienced respondents. Experienced respondents distrusted new trends and/or management theories and mainly relied on experience. The findings also reveal that the communication flow structure, the communication and information management plan, and the channels of communication are relevant aspects for the success of a project. The results of this research can be used to assess bidders’ communication abilities and systems.

In this article we present a review of the state of the art in mathematical e-learning and some personal experiences on this area developed during the last eleven years at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), a completely online university located in Spain. The article discusses important aspects related to online mathematics courses offered in higher education programs, including: benefits and challenges, universities offering this type of education, methodological considerations, emergent technologies, learning projects and environments, etc. Also, key aspects of the UOC mathematical e-learning model and its historical evolution are described and analysed. Special attention is paid to mathematical curricula in computer sciences degrees, where a lot of work needs to be done in order to adapt mathematics courses to the continuously changing educational necessities of students. A curricula design proposal, based on a top-down approach, is presented as a best practice. Finally, some trends and future perspectives on the subject are suggested.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are a fundamental component of intelligent transportation systems in smart cities. With the support of open and real-time data, these networks of inter-connected vehicles constitute an ‘Internet of vehicles’ with the potential to significantly enhance citizens’ mobility and last-mile delivery in urban, peri-urban, and metropolitan areas. However, the proper coordination and logistics of VANETs raise a number of optimization challenges that need to be solved. After reviewing the state of the art on the concepts of VANET optimization and open data in smart cities, this paper discusses some of the most relevant optimization challenges in this area. Since most of the optimization problems are related to the need for real-time solutions or to the consideration of uncertainty and dynamic environments, the paper also discusses how some VANET challenges can be addressed with the use of agile optimization algorithms and the combination of metaheuristics with simulation and machine learning methods. The paper also offers a numerical analysis that measures the impact of using these optimization techniques in some related problems. Our numerical analysis, based on real data from Open Data Barcelona, demonstrates that the constructive heuristic outperforms the random scenario in the CDP combined with vehicular networks, resulting in maximizing the minimum distance between facilities while meeting capacity requirements with the fewest facilities.