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 RStudio (TM) (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.

Abstract
In this paper, a new framework for accurate reliability analysis is proposed based on improving the directional simulation by using metaheuristic algorithms. Usually for highly nonlinear and complex performance functions, finding the unit vector direction requires very high calculations or impossible practically. Hence, the novel improved version incorporates the Harris Hawks Optimization algorithm, where the unit vector of direction is formulated as a constrained optimization problem and estimated using metaheuristic algorithms. Given that metaheuristic algorithms have been introduced to solve unconstrained problems, the penalty function method is used to convert the constrained problem into an unconstrained problem. The applicability of the proposed framework is firstly tested on five highly nonlinear benchmark functions and then applied to solve four high-dimensional engineering problems. The performance of six simulations-based reliability analysis methods and the first-order reliability method were compared with the proposed method. Besides the feasibility of other metaheuristic algorithms were investigated. The results show high-performance abilities of the improved version of the directional simulation for solving highly nonlinear engineering problems.

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. © 2022 Paula Correia Tavares et al., published by De Gruyter.

Abstract

Abstract
Modern power grids have high levels of distributed energy resources, automation, and inherent flexibility. Those characteristics have been proven to be favorable from an environmental, social and economic perspective. Despite the increased versatility, modern grids are becoming more vulnerable to high-impact low-probability (HILP) threats, particularly for the distribution networks. On one hand, this is due to the increasing frequency and severity of weather events and natural disasters. On the other hand, it is aggravated by the increased complexity of smart grids. Resilience is broadly defined as the capability of a system to mitigate the effects of and recover from HILP events, which is often confused with reliability that is concerned with low-impact high-probability (LIHP) ones. In this paper, a distribution system in Portugal is simulated to showcase how the utilization of flexibility and mobile energy resources (MERs) should be considered differently relative to HILP vs LIHP threats.

Abstract
Accurate monthly electricity consumption forecasting (MECF) is important for electricity retailers to mitigate trading risks in the electricity market. Clustering is commonly used to improve the accuracy of MECF. However, in the existing clustering-based forecasting methods, clustering and forecasting are independently performed and lack coordination, which limits the further improvement of forecasting accuracy. To address this issue, an adaptive optimal greedy clustering-based MECF method is proposed in this article. First, a metric of predictability is defined based on the goodness of fit and the cluster's average electricity consumption. Under a predefined number of clusters, the greedy clustering algorithm achieves the optimal division of individuals with the goal of maximizing predictability. Then, an adaptive method is designed to select the optimal number of clusters from a variety of clustering scenarios according to the prediction accuracy on the validation dataset. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method have been verified on a real-world dataset.