Elsa Ferreira Gomes

Abstract
Background and objective: Cell migration is essential for many biological phenomena with direct impact on human health and disease. One conventional approach to study cell migration involves the quantitative analysis of individual cell trajectories recorded by time-lapse video microscopy. Dedicated software tools exist to assist the automated or semi-automated tracking of cells and translate these into coordinate positions along time. However, cell biologists usually bump into the difficulty of plotting and computing these data sets into biologically meaningful figures and metrics. Methods: This report describes MigraR, an intuitive graphical user interface executed from the RStudioTM (via the R package Shiny), which greatly simplifies the task of translating coordinate positions of moving cells into measurable parameters of cell migration (velocity, straightness, and direction of movement), as well as of plotting cell trajectories and migration metrics. One innovative function of this interface is that it allows users to refine their data sets by setting limits based on time, velocity and straightness. Results: MigraR was tested on different data to assess its applicability. Intended users of MigraR are cell biologists with no prior knowledge of data analysis, seeking to accelerate the quantification and visualization of cell migration data sets delivered in the format of Excel files by available cell-tracking software. Conclusions: Through the graphics it provides, MigraR is an useful tool for the analysis of migration parameters and cellular trajectories. Since its source code is open, it can be subject of refinement by expert users to best suit the needs of other researchers. It is available at GitHub and can be easily reproduced. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Abstract

Abstract
Abstract Computer Programming Learners usually fail to get approved in introductory courses because solving problems using computers is a complex task. The most important reason for that failure is concerned with motivation; motivation strongly impacts on the learning process. In this paper we discuss how techniques like program animation, and automatic evaluation can be combined to help the teacher in Computer Programming courses. In the article, PEP system will be introduced to explain how it supports teachers in classroom and how it engages students on study sessions outside the classroom. To support that work, students’ motivation was studied; to complement that study, a survey involving students attending the first year of Algorithms and Programming course of an Engineering degree was done. It is also presented a tool to analyse surveys, using association rules.

Abstract

Abstract