Container-based Cloud Virtual Machine Benchmarking

With the availability of a wide range of cloud Virtual Machines (VMs) it is difficult to determine which VMs can maximise the performance of an application. Benchmarking is commonly used to this end for capturing the performance of VMs. Most cloud benchmarking techniques are typically heavyweight - time consuming processes which have to benchmark the entire VM in order to obtain accurate benchmark data. Such benchmarks cannot be used in real-time on the cloud and incur extra costs even before an application is deployed. <br/><br/>In this paper, we present lightweight cloud benchmarking techniques that execute quickly and can be used in near real-time on the cloud. The exploration of lightweight benchmarking techniques are facilitated by the development of DocLite - Docker Container-based Lightweight Benchmarking. DocLite is built on the Docker container technology which allows a user-defined portion (such as memory size and the number of CPU cores) of the VM to be benchmarked. DocLite operates in two modes, in the first mode, containers are used to benchmark a small portion of the VM to generate performance ranks. In the second mode, historic benchmark data is used along with the first mode as a hybrid to generate VM ranks. The generated ranks are evaluated against three scientific high-performance computing applications. The proposed techniques are up to 91 times faster than a heavyweight technique which benchmarks the entire VM. It is observed that the first mode can generate ranks with over 90% and 86% accuracy for sequential and parallel execution of an application. The hybrid mode improves the correlation slightly but the first mode is sufficient for benchmarking cloud VMs.

Think, code, succeed: The Programming Studio as a games-based collaboration:Paper published in the Proceedings of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe conference: Teacher Education through Partnerships and Collaborative Learning Communities, Glasgow, UK. ATEE, 2015

This paper investigates the profile of teachers in the island of Ireland who declared themselves willing to undertake professional development activities in programming, in particular to master programming by taking on-line courses involving the design of computer games. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), it compares scores for teachers ���willing��� to undertake the courses with scores for those who declined, and examines other differences between the groups of respondents. Findings reflect the perceived difficulties of programming and the current low status accorded to the subject in Ireland. The paper also reviews the use of games-based learning as a ���hook��� to engage learners in programming and discusses the role of gamification as a tool for motivating learners in an on-line course. The on-line course focusing on games design was met with enthusiasm, and there was general consensus that gamification was appropriate for motivating learners in structured courses such as those provided. <br/>

Investigation into DCT Feature Selection for Visual Lip-Based Biometric Authentication

This paper investigated using lip movements as a behavioural biometric for person authentication. The system was trained, evaluated and tested using the XM2VTS dataset, following the Lausanne Protocol configuration II. Features were selected from the DCT coefficients of the greyscale lip image. This paper investigated the number of DCT coefficients selected, the selection process, and static and dynamic feature combinations. Using a Gaussian Mixture Model - Universal Background Model framework an Equal Error Rate of 2.20% was achieved during evaluation and on an unseen test set a False Acceptance Rate of 1.7% and False Rejection Rate of 3.0% was achieved. This compares favourably with face authentication results on the same dataset whilst not being susceptible to spoofing attacks.

The Impact of Multimedia Education on Uptake of Comprehensive Eye Examinations in Rural China: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

PURPOSE: To study the effect of multimedia education on acceptance of comprehensive eye examinations (CEEs), critical for detecting glaucoma and diabetic eye disease, among rural Chinese patients using a randomized, controlled design.<br/>METHODS: Patients aged ���40 years were recruited from 52 routine clinic sessions (26 intervention, 26 control) conducted at seven rural hospitals in Guangdong, China. Subjects answered demographic questionnaires, were tested on knowledge about CEEs and chronic eye disease, and were told the cost of examination (range US$0-8). At intervention sessions, subjects were cluster-randomized to view a 10-minute video on the value of CEEs and retested. Control subjects were not retested. Trial outcomes were acceptance of CEEs (primary outcome) and final knowledge scores (secondary outcome).<br/>RESULTS: At baseline, &gt;70% (p���=���0.70) of both intervention (n���=���241, 61.2��������12.3 years) and control (n���=���218, 58.4��������11.7 years) subjects answered no knowledge questions correctly, but mean scores on the test (maximum 5 points) increased by 1.39 (standard deviation 0.12) points (p���&lt;���0.001) after viewing the video. Intervention (73.0%) and control (72.9%) subjects did not differ in acceptance of CEEs (p���&gt;���0.50). In mixed-effect logistic regression models, acceptance of CEEs was associated with availability of free CEEs (odds ratio 18.3, 95% confidence interval 1.32-253.0), but not group assignment or knowledge score. Acceptance was 97.5% (79/81) when free exams were offered.<br/>CONCLUSIONS: Education increased knowledge about but not acceptance of CEEs, which was generally high. Making CEEs free could further increase acceptance.

Understanding barriers to cataract surgery among older persons in rural China through focus groups.

PURPOSE: To utilize focus groups (FGs) to identify barriers to cataract surgery specific to older persons in rural Guangdong, China. METHODS: Three focus groups in separate locations were carried out for persons aged 60 years and above with best-corrected vision &lt;= 6/18 due to cataract, either accepting or refusing surgery. Participants also ranked responses to questions about acceptance of surgery among the elderly. FG transcripts were coded independently by two investigators using qualitative data management software. RESULTS: Twenty participants had a mean age of 72.7 �� 6.1 years, 14 (70.0%) were women and 17 (85.0%) were blind (best-corrected vision &lt;= 6/60) in at least one eye. Cost was ranked by two of three groups as the main barrier to surgery, and all groups listed reducing cost as the best strategy to increase surgical uptake. Many respondents planned to use China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) health insurance to pay for surgery. Participants showed poor understanding of cataract, but ranked educational interventions low as methods of increasing uptake. Though opinions of local service quality were poor, respondents did not see quality as an important barrier to accepting service. Participants frequently depended on family members to pay for surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to some previous reports, cost may be an important barrier to cataract surgery in rural China, which NCMS may help to alleviate. Educational interventions to increase knowledge about cataract are needed, but may face skepticism among patients. Strategies to promote cataract surgery should target the entire family.

Early assessment of visual acuity after cataract surgery in rural Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: The accuracy and impact on service uptake of early examination after cataract surgery is not known. DESIGN: ��� Prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Cataract patients in rural Indonesia. METHODS: Visual acuity was measured preoperatively, 1day, 1-3, 4-6 and &gt;12weeks after surgery, and 6-8months postoperatively at an outreach examination. Acceptance of second-eye surgery and spectacles was evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Presenting visual acuity in the operated eye. RESULTS: Among 241 subjects (extracapsular surgery 84%), examinations at 1day, 1-3, 4-6 and &gt;12weeks and 6-8months were completed for 100% (241), 90.9% (219), 67.6% (163), 22.0% (53) and 80.0% (193), respectively. Among subjects at the final examination (mean age 65.8��10.6years, 51.8% male), 73.6% had bilateral preoperative presenting visual acuity���6/60. By 4-6weeks, the proportion with good (���6/18) or poor (���6/60) visual acuity did not differ significantly from the final examination. Among 49 persons accepting free second-eye surgery, 69.4% (34) and 16.3% (8) returned to clinic at 4-6 and &gt;12weeks, respectively. Among 131 patients (67.9%) paying US$7 for glasses, 94 (71.8%) and 30 (22.9%) attended 4- to 6- and &gt;12-week examinations, respectively. CONCLUSION: Even with large-incision surgery, early assessment of postoperative vision is representative of final vision, and may help deliver postoperative services to more of those needing them. �� 2011 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology �� 2011 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

School-based approaches to the correction of refractive error in children.

The World Health Organization estimates that 13 million children aged 5-15 years worldwide are visually impaired from uncorrected refractive error. School vision screening programs can identify and treat or refer children with refractive error. We concentrate on the findings of various screening studies and attempt to identify key factors in the success and sustainability of such programs in the developing world. We reviewed original and review articles describing children's vision and refractive error screening programs published in English and listed in PubMed, Medline OVID, Google Scholar, and Oxford University Electronic Resources databases. Data were abstracted on study objective, design, setting, participants, and outcomes, including accuracy of screening, quality of refractive services, barriers to uptake, impact on quality of life, and cost-effectiveness of programs. Inadequately corrected refractive error is an important global cause of visual impairment in childhood. School-based vision screening carried out by teachers and other ancillary personnel may be an effective means of detecting affected children and improving their visual function with spectacles. The need for services and potential impact of school-based programs varies widely between areas, depending on prevalence of refractive error and competing conditions and rates of school attendance. Barriers to acceptance of services include the cost and quality of available refractive care and mistaken beliefs that glasses will harm children's eyes. Further research is needed in areas such as the cost-effectiveness of different screening approaches and impact of education to promote acceptance of spectacle-wear. School vision programs should be integrated into comprehensive efforts to promote healthy children and their families.

DocLite: A Docker-Based Lightweight Cloud Benchmarking Tool

Existing benchmarking methods are time consuming processes as they typically benchmark the entire Virtual Machine (VM) in order to generate accurate performance data, making them less suitable for real-time analytics. The research in this paper is aimed to surmount the above challenge by presenting DocLite - Docker Container-based Lightweight benchmarking tool. DocLite explores lightweight cloud benchmarking methods for rapidly executing benchmarks in near real-time. DocLite is built on the Docker container technology, which allows a user-defined memory size and number of CPU cores of the VM to be benchmarked. The tool incorporates two benchmarking methods - the first referred to as the native method employs containers to benchmark a small portion of the VM and generate performance ranks, and the second uses historic benchmark data along with the native method as a hybrid to generate VM ranks. The proposed methods are evaluated on three use-cases and are observed to be up to 91 times faster than benchmarking the entire VM. In both methods, small containers provide the same quality of rankings as a large container. The native method generates ranks with over 90% and 86% accuracy for sequential and parallel execution of an application compared against benchmarking the whole VM. The hybrid method did not improve the quality of the rankings significantly.

Is Longer-Distance Migration Slowing? An Analysis of the Annual Record for England and Wales since the 1970s

This paper is prompted by the widespread acceptance that the rates of inter-county and inter-state migration have been falling in the USA and sets itself the task of examining whether this decline in migration intensities is also the case in the UK. It uses annual inter-area migration matrices available for England and Wales since the 1970s by broad age group. The main methodological challenge, arising from changes in the geography of health areas for which the inter-area flows are given, is addressed by adopting the lowest common denominator of 80 areas. Care is also taken to allow for the effect of economic cycles in producing short-term fluctuations on migration rates and to isolate the effect of a sharp rise in rates for 16-24 year olds in the 1990s, which is presumed to be related to the expansion of higher education. The findings suggest that, unlike for the USA, there has not been a substantial decline in the intensity of internal migration between the first two decades of the study period and the second two. If there has been any major decline in the intensity of address changing in England and Wales, it can only be for the within-area moves that this time series does not cover. This latter possibility is examined in a companion paper using a very different data set (Champion and Shuttleworth, 2016).

Fear of oxygen therapy for children in Malawi

<p>BACKGROUND: Although pneumonia is a common cause of death in children in Malawi, healthcare staff frequently encounter patients or carers who refuse oxygen therapy. This qualitative study documents factors that influence acceptance or refusal of oxygen therapy for children in Malawi.</p><p>METHODS: Nine group interviews involving 86 participants were held in community and hospital settings in rural and urban Malawi. Eleven in-depth interviews of healthcare staff providing oxygen were held in a central hospital. Thematic analysis of transcripts of the audio recordings was carried out to identify recurring themes.</p><p>RESULTS: Similar ideas were identified in the group interviews and in-depth staff interviews. Past experiences of oxygen use (direct and indirect, positive and negative) had a strong influence on views of oxygen. A recurrent theme was fear of oxygen, often due to a perceived association between death and recent oxygen use. Fears were intensified by a lack of familiarity with equipment used to deliver oxygen, distrust of medical staff and concerns about cost of oxygen.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies reasons for refusal of oxygen therapy for children in a low-income country. Findings from the study suggest that training of healthcare staff to address fears of parents, and information, education and communication (IEC) approaches that improve public understanding of oxygen and provide positive examples of its use are likely to be helpful in improving uptake of oxygen therapy in Malawi.</p>

Facts, Hacks and Turbines: Media Analysis of Irish Wind Energy

Wind energy projects face increasing opposition from host communities throughout the western world. Governments have responded in a range of ways, including enhanced local control over consenting (England), reform of planning regulations (Australia) or community ownership (Denmark). However, there is no effective mechanism for monitoring levels of social acceptance and thus, no means of evaluating the effectiveness of these approaches. There have been attempts to understand how social framing of wind energy in the media (e.g. Van de Velde et al 2010, Barry and Ellis, 2008, Hindmarsh 2014), highlighting how this changes over time. However, no research has focussed on Ireland and critically, none have examined whether this can help monitor overall levels of social acceptance. In order to explore this, this paper will present a media analysis of wind energy in the Republic of Ireland, which witnessed a rapid increase in wind energy capacity and has the highest energy penetration of wind in the world (19%). However, this has been accompanied by increasing public opposition and (assumed) declining levels of social acceptance. <br/><br/>This paper will describe the results of analysing over 8000 articles on wind energy that have appeared in three Irish newspapers. These are assessed through historical-diachronic (over time) and comparative ���synchronic (differences between newspapers) analyses (Carvalho 2007) to highlight changing trends in framing wind energy and changing concerns over wind energy in Ireland. The paper will consider whether such media analysis could form a tool for monitoring the trends in social acceptance of wind energy.<br/>

How do clinicians become teachers? A communities of practice perspective.

There is widespread acceptance that clinical educators should be trained to teach, but faculty development for clinicians is undermined by poor attendance and inadequate learning transfer. As a result there has been growing interest in situating teacher development initiatives in clinical workplaces. The relationship between becoming a teacher and clinical workplace contexts is under theorised. In response, this qualitative research set out to explore how clinicians become teachers in relation to clinical communities and institutions. Using communities of practice (CoP) as a conceptual framework this research employed the sensitising concepts of regimes of competence and vertical (managerial) and horizontal (professional) planes of accountability to elucidate structural influences on teacher development. Fourteen hospital physicians completed developmental timelines and underwent semi-structured interviews, exploring their development as teachers. Despite having very different developmental pathways, participants��� descriptions of their teacher identities and practice that were remarkably congruent. Two types of CoP occupied the horizontal plane of accountability i.e. clinical teams (Firms) and communities of junior doctors (Fraternities). Participants reproduced teacher identities and practice that were congruent with CoPs��� regimes of competence in order to gain recognition and legitimacy. Participants also constructed their teacher identities in relation to institutions in the vertical plane of accountability (i.e. hospitals and medical schools). Institutions that valued teaching supported the development of teacher identities along institutionally defined lines. Where teaching was less valued, clinicians adapted their teacher identities and practices to suit institutional norms. Becoming a clinical educator entails continually negotiating one���s identity and practice between two potentially conflicting planes of accountability. Clinical CoPs are largely conservative and reproductive of teaching practice whereas accountability to institutions is potentially disruptive of teacher identity and practice.

Efficacy and Acceptability of Reduced Intensity Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy for Children Aged 9���11 years with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study

<p>OBJECTIVE: Assess efficacy and acceptability of reduced intensity constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) in children with cerebral palsy (CP).</p><p>METHODS: Single-subject research design and semi-structured interviews. Children (9-11y) with hemiplegia underwent five baseline assessments followed by two weeks CIMT. Six further assessments were performed during treatment and follow-up phases. The primary outcome was the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function (MUUL). Quantitative data were analysed using standard single-subject methods and qualitative data by thematic analysis.</p><p>RESULTS: Four of the seven participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements in MUUL (3-11%, p &lt; .05). Two participants achieved significant improvements in active range of motion but strength and tone remained largely unchanged. Qualitative interviews highlighted limitations of the restraint, importance of family involvement, and coordination of treatment with education.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: Reduced intensity CIMT may be effective for some children in this population; however it is not suitable for all children with hemiplegia.</p>

Estrat��gias para a valoriza����o do coberto vegetal da Ilha de Porto Santo

No presente trabalho desenvolveram-se estudos visando a valoriza����o do coberto vegetal da Ilha de Porto Santo, atrav��s de duas metodologias de investiga����o complementares: a) preserva����o e reintrodu����o na Ilha de uma esp��cie end��mica e em risco do Arquip��lago da Madeira (Olea maderensis) e de uma esp��cie naturalizada (Olea europaea ssp. europaea var. sylvestris), recorrendo para o efeito a t��cnicas de biotecnologia (micropropaga����o); b) an��lise da percep����o da comunidade local e visitante sobre o fen��meno da desertifica����o e a valoriza����o do coberto vegetal bem como a sua aceita����o relativamente �� aplica����o de t��cnicas de biotecnologia (para micropropagar e reintroduzir esp��cies de oliveira na Ilha) para minimiza����o do processo de desertifica����o. A disserta����o estrutura-se em quatro partes principais. A Parte I caracteriza a Ilha de Porto Santo em termos geogr��ficos, geol��gicos, clim��ticos, s��cio-economicos e do uso do solo. Enquadra, ainda, o problema da desertifica����o, atrav��s da caracteriza����o/evolu����o do coberto vegetal ao longo dos anos. Finalmente apresentam-se os objectivos gerais deste estudo. A Parte II centra-se no desenvolvimento de metodologias no ��mbito da biotecnologia vegetal para propaga����o de esp��cies de O. maderensis e O. europaea ssp. europaea var. sylvestris. em larga escala. Esta parte est�� dividida em seis cap��tulos. O Cap��tulo II.1 aborda a distribui����o geogr��fica das esp��cies de oliveira e faz uma revis��o bibliogr��fica dos aspectos mais importantes da micropropaga����o de oliveira (O. europaea L.), principalmente atrav��s da micropropaga����o por estimula����o de gomos axilares. No final deste cap��tulo apresentam-se os objectivos espec��ficos desta investiga����o. No Cap��tulo II.2 faz-se a caracteriza����o gen��tica de gen��tipos de O. maderensis do Arquip��lago da Madeira atrav��s da an��lise da ploidia e do conte��do em DNA por citometria de fluxo (FCM) e atrav��s da detec����o de polimorfismos por an��lise de microssat��lites (SSR). Nesta an��lise usaram-se ainda outros gen��tipos, nomeadamente: O. europaea ssp. europaea var. sylvestris, O. cerasiformes e O. europaea ssp. europaea var. europaea. Este estudo contribuiu para uma melhor caracteriza����o desta esp��cie e permitiu a detec����o de um n��vel de ploidia novo no g��nero Olea (tetraploidia). O Cap��tulo II.3 descreve a optimiza����o das condi����es de cultura in vitro (e.g. desinfec����o, meio de cultura e enraizamento) para propagar e preservar a O. maderensis. Avalia-se ainda a ���performance��� dos rebentos in vitro (taxas de crescimento, avalia����o da apar��ncia das folhas e estudos fisiol��gicos), de modo a confirmar a optimiza����o das condi����es de propaga����o. Neste cap��tulo define-se um meio novo (OMG) para propaga����o desta esp��cie end��mica. O Cap��tulo II.4 descreve dois protocolos de micropropaga����o e aclimatiza����o de ambas as esp��cies (O. maderensis e O. europaea ssp. europaea var. sylvestris) e a qualidade das plantas (���true-to-type���) �� avaliada atrav��s da poss��vel ocorr��ncia de variabilidade gen��tica atrav��s de FCM (ploidia) e SSRs. O Cap��tulo II.5 descreve um protocolo eficiente de aclimatiza����o ao campo de O. maderensis e avalia a ���performance��� das plantas micropropagadas no campo atrav��s da an��lise de par��metros fisiol��gicos durante o processo. O Cap��tulo II.6 apresenta os estudos em curso relativamente ��s plantas de O. maderensis em aclimatiza����o no campo, bem como a introdu����o de plantas micropropagadas num outro local da Ilha com um maior grau de degrada����o dos solos. Estas estrat��gias est��o a ser aplicadas juntamente com a DRFRAM, no ��mbito de programas de floresta����o em curso. Finalmente �� real��ada a necessidade de estudos semelhantes com outras esp��cies nativas. Na Parte III, s��o apresentados os estudos sobre a percep����o da comunidade local relativamente �� valoriza����o do coberto vegetal para a minimiza����o dos processos de degrada����o dos solos/desertifica����o. A introdu����o faz o enquadramento te��rico sobre o fen��meno da desertifica����o, particularmente na Ilha de Porto Santo e sobre a percep����o social da desertifica����o. S��o ainda apresentados os objectivos espec��ficos desta investiga����o. A metodologia adoptada recorreu �� aplica����o de inqu��ritos por question��rio �� popula����o residente e aos visitantes da Ilha de Porto Santo e ainda a realiza����o de inqu��ritos por entrevista a algumas entidades e especialistas. Estes estudos permitiram verificar que existe uma n��tida consci��ncia da situa����o de risco da ilha, das medidas tomadas e a tomar e da prem��ncia da resolu����o do problema. Face ao recurso de estrat��gias alternativas envolvendo biotecnologia, e apesar de existir algum desconhecimento, concluiu-se ainda que a popula����o manifesta aceita����o, desde que essas estrat��gias valorizem o coberto vegetal e, assim, ajudem a combater a degrada����o biof��sica dos solos. Finalmente s��o apresentadas as conclus��es e algumas recomenda����es. Na Parte IV apresentam-se as conclus��es gerais e perspectivas futuras, onde o potencial ambiental destas oliveiras bravas micropropagadas �� destacado, bem como �� considerado o alargamento da aplica����o destas estrat��gias a outras esp��cies ind��genas em risco, nesta Ilha (e noutros locais). S��o ainda resumidas as principais vis��es da popula����o e das entidades e dos especialistas que poder��o contribuir para apoiar a elabora����o de medidas de mitiga����o e preven����o no combate ao processo de degrada����o dos solos/desertifica����o em curso.

Cuidar da pessoa com esquizofrenia em processo de reabilita����o psicossocial

Este ensino cl��nico permitiu-nos prestar cuidados de enfermagem especializados a 16 homens com esquizofrenia em processo de reabilita����o psicossocial. Na sua maioria s��o: adultos, solteiros, da regi��o sul de Portugal, com uma m��dia de 9 anos de escolaridade, com hist��ria de consumo de subst��ncias (��lcool, tabaco, haxixe, coca��na, hero��na e anfetaminas), institucionalizados na Casa de Sa��de do Telhal (CST) h�� mais de 11 anos. Todos apresentam diagn��sticos de enfermagem das v��rias dimens��es do adoecer, com exce����o da dimens��o comportamental excitat��ria, sendo os de maior preval��ncia: ���Conhecimento sobre Processo de doen��a/Cuidados na doen��a/Tratamento, N��o Demonstrado���; Cogni����o, Comprometida���; ���Processo Social, Alterado���; ���Autoestima, Diminu��da���. Foram desenvolvidos 4 programas de interven����o: consulta de enfermagem de sa��de mental e psiquiatria (CESMP); atelier de estimula����o cognitiva (AEC); programa de desenvolvimento de compet��ncia intrapessoais, interpessoais e profissionais (PDCIIP); programa de psicoeduca����o (SABER+). A satisfa����o global com os programas foi superior a 7 (numa escala de 1 a 10) e os resultados que foram percebidos pela maioria dos reabilitandos situaram-se acima das suas expectativas iniciais. De uma forma geral, todos registaram ganhos: no desempenho cognitivo (em particular os que beneficiaram do AEC); na adapta����o psicossocial ��� nomeadamente ao n��vel do insight; os reabilitandos que beneficiaram do programa SABER+ melhoraram ainda os comportamentos demonstrados de aceita����o do estado de sa��de; no bem-estar psicol��gico ��� nomeadamente ao n��vel da autoestima (sobretudo os que beneficiaram da CESMP e/ou do PDCIIP), dos afetos positivos e dos comportamentos de motiva����o; nos v��rios dom��nios da qualidade de vida (QdV) medidos pelo WHOQOL-Bref em particular o dom��nio ambiental; todos elevaram o seu n��vel de conhecimentos nos 3 eixos em que que se estruturou o programa de psicoeduca����o (processo da doen��a, cuidados na doen��a, tratamento da doen��a); na ades��o �� medica����o, sobretudo os que integraram o programa de psicoeduca����o, contudo todos tendem a necessitar de ajuda parcial para conseguir demonstrar conhecimento no cumprimento do esquema terap��utico e est��o envolvidos em treinos supervisionados de prepara����o e autoadministra����o; ABSTRACT: This clinical training allowed us to provide skilled nursing care to 16 men with schizophrenia in a psychosocial rehabilitation setting. Most of these individuals are: adults, singles, from the southern region of Portugal, with an average of 9 years of schooling, with a history of substance abuse (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines), institutionalized in Casa de Sa��de do Telhal (CST) for over 11 years. We find nursing diagnoses from all of the disease dimensions with the exception of excitatory behavioral dimension, being the most prevalent: "knowledge about disease process / care / treatment, not stated"; cognition, impaired", "social process, impaired���, ���self-esteem, decreased". We developed 4 intervention programs: psychiatry and mental health nursing consultation (CESMP); atelier of cognitive stimulation (AEC); intrapersonal, interpersonal and professional competences training (PDCIIP); psychoeducation (SABER+). The overall satisfaction with the programs was above 7 (on a scale of 1 to 10) and the results noticed by most patients were above their initial expectations. All registered nursing results were: in cognitive performance (particularly those who benefited from the AEC); in psychosocial adaptation - especially in terms of insight; patients who benefited from the SABER+ program demonstrated improved further acceptance of their health condition, psychological well-being, particularly in terms of self-esteem (especially those who benefited from the CESMP and/or the PDCIIP), positive affects and motivation; in the different domains of quality of life (QoL) measured by WHOQOL-Bref in particular the environmental domain; every patients raised their level of knowledge in the 3 axes in which the psychoeducational program (SABER+) was structured (disease process, care and treatment); in medication adherence, especially those who benefited of the psychoeducational program, however all the patients tend to need partial help to demonstrate knowledge in meeting the therapeutic regimen and are involved in supervised training programs for preparation and self administration.