Correspondence: Knut Stieger, Department of Ophthalmology, Justus Liebig University, Friedrichstraße 18, 35392 Gießen, Germany; knut.stieger@uniklinikum-giessen.de.
Matthäus Pilch, Knut Stieger, Yaroslava Wenner, Markus N. Preising, Christoph Friedburg, Erdmuthe Meyer zu Bexten, Birgit Lorenz; Automated Segmentation of Pathological Cavities in Optical Coherence Tomography Scans. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2013;54(6):4385-4393. doi: 10.1167/iovs.12-11396.
Purpose.: To develop and evaluate a method for automated segmentation and quantitative analysis of pathological cavities in the retina visualized by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans.
Methods.: The algorithm is based on the segmentation of the gray-level intensities within a B-scan by a k-means cluster analysis and subsequent classification by a k-nearest neighbor algorithm. Accuracy was evaluated against three clinical experts using 130 bullous cavities identified on eight SD-OCT B-scans of three patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and five patients with X-linked retinoschisis, as well as on one volume scan of a patient with X-linked retinoschisis. The algorithm calculated the surface area of the cavities for the B-scans and the volume of all cavities for the volume scan. In order to validate the applicability of the algorithm in clinical use, we analyzed 31 volume scans taken over the course of 4 years for one AMD patient with a serous retinal detachment.
Results.: Discrepancies in area measurements between the segmentation results of the algorithm and the experts were within the range of the area deviations among the experts. Volumes interpolated from the B-scan series of the volume scan were comparable among experts and algorithm (0.249 mm3 for the algorithm, 0.271 mm3 for expert 1, 0.239 mm3 for expert 2, and 0.262 mm3 for expert 3). Volume changes of the serous retinal detachment were quantifiable.
Conclusions.: The segmentation algorithm represents a method for the automated analysis of large numbers of volume scans during routine diagnostics and in clinical trials.
Current therapeutic management includes repetitive intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF molecules such as bevacizumab, ranibizumab, or aflibercept. 3–5 The frequency of injections required to halt disease progression without inducing pathologies at the same time is still at the height of debate. 6,7 One possibility to ensure the highest safety would be the paradigm of PRN (pro re nata), in which the decision for an injection is dependent on the outcome of visual acuity and a thorough optical coherence tomography (OCT) investigation of the patient's retina for the presence or absence of retinal fluids. 8 Moreover, manual segmentation of fluids within volume scans of the retina is very time consuming, limiting the evaluation to only relatively small number of scans even in clinical studies. 9 Therefore, a robust automated method to analyze pathological bullous cavities within the retina is essential.
Retinoschisis is a retinal structural disorder, in which the synaptic connections between photoreceptors and bipolar cells disintegrate and retinal layers separate and split either early in life (X-linked juvenile retinoschisis) or later in life in association with AMD, diabetic macular edema, or other macular diseases. 10,11 Juvenile retinoschisis is the leading cause of juvenile maculopathies in males and leads to a schisis (splitting) of retinal layers. 11 In general, large bullous lesions that can be observed by OCT imaging in childhood disappear and become undetectable in older patients. 12,13 The underlying cause is a hemizygous mutation in the RS1 gene located on the X chromosome. Currently no treatment is available, but recent successful gene therapeutic applications in mouse models of the disease raise some hope for a rapid transfer into clinical trials. 10 Therefore, analysis of the volume of the intraretinal cavities in this disorder is highly needed for characterizing the natural history prior to and following treatment.
Even though image data on retinal structures are present at high resolution, tools for their analysis in most commercial OCT devices are still rare and often restricted to the segmentation of the entire retina or the nerve fiber layer, but details of their implementation are not available.
Several groups have developed algorithms for evaluating pathological cavities. 16–18 One approach identifies the presence of the normal macular structure and macular pathologies centered at the fovea by a machine learning algorithm based on image descriptors. 16 A semi-automated approach for quantitative segmentation was developed by Fernández 17 based on an active contour model (also known as snake). In this algorithm, an initial contour must be placed near the fluid-filled region boundaries by the user, enabling the algorithm to move iteratively to the boundaries. The first entirely automated approach by Wilkins et al. 18 is based on thresholding of OCT scans with a certain gray-level intensity. All pixels with a gray-level intensity below 31 are determined as fluid-filled lesions.
In this study we present a novel approach for fully automated segmentation and analysis of pathologic cavities without interevaluator variability and time effort of manual segmentations. We validated the algorithm against three expert graders and applied the method for the volumetric quantification of a serous retinal detachment in one patient with wet AMD over the course of anti-VEGF treatment.
OCT data were acquired from three patients with AMD and six patients with X-linked retinoschisis using the Spectralis OCT system (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) with an axial resolution of 4 μm, a transversal resolution of 14 μm, and an acquisition speed of 40,000 A-Scans/s. The volume scan protocol was used for acquisition of images with sizes 1024 × 496 pixels and 1536 × 496 pixels. The images were exported as raw data to avoid processing steps by the Spectralis OCT system itself. The algorithms were written in the programming language C/C+ + for Windows operating systems (Microsoft, Redmond, WA).
OCT images present with different degrees of speckle noise, which needs to be minimized for optimal pattern analysis. 19 Therefore, prior to the segmentation procedure, a speckle noise reduction algorithm was applied as presented by Wong and colleagues. 20 The algorithm is based on a general Bayesian estimation, in which the image is projected into the logarithmic space to estimate the noise-free data using a posterior sampling approach.
To approximate the boundaries of the retina we used an active contour model. 21 The method proposes a region-based contour detection on the gray-level intensities as an energy minimization model, which makes the use of a gradient-based detector for edge propagation dispensable. The parameters of the active contour model were determined empirically based on different degrees of pathological cavities and different image qualities including B-scans with a smaller number on averaged scans. The algorithm starts with an initial contour defined by 10 pixels distance to the B-scan borders. The contour moves iteratively to the retina and fits the top boundary. Due to similar reflection gray-level intensities of the choroid and retina, the bottom retinal boundary is difficult to delineate accurately. Based on the initial approximation, the bottom boundary is set to the maximum pixel intensity within a window of 40 pixels in axial direction of each A-scan. Irregularities due to blood vessel shadowing effects within the retina are detected and eliminated automatically based on the shadowgraph of gray-level centers of each A-scan. 22 Finally, the retinal boundaries are smoothed by a mean filter to remove small irregularities.
A histogram represents the frequency distribution of numeric data. Applied to a B-scan I with width X and height Z the frequency of each gray-level intensity is determined. The histogram is defined by the function h(g), that indicates the frequency for each gray-level intensity g ∈ [g min, g max] of I.
Cluster analysis methods are used to group large amount of data into a set of objects, the so-called clusters. The aim of cluster analysis methods is to determine the best partition of the data into k clusters. The objects should be grouped by the criteria that the homogeneity within a cluster should be as high as possible, thus, pixels should be grouped into a cluster that are similar to each other.
The mean vector m̄ i of cluster Ci is called cluster center and d(m − m̄ i ) 2 determines the square Euclidean distance. An optimal partition of the k clusters is reached with minimal square error criterion.
Determine the p nearest objects x i 1,…,x ip to x new of the sample.
The distances are determined by the Euclidean distance.
The algorithm was evaluated for accuracy against three expert readers.
where n is the number of pixels within a segmented contour; sx, the scaling in x-direction; sz, scaling in z-direction; and sy, the scaling in y-direction.
Following initial preprocessing, the segmentation of pathologic cavities in any given B-scans was performed in three steps (Fig. 1). First, the retinal boundaries were segmented using an active contour model. Second, the segmentation of the respective cavities was performed based on a k-means cluster analysis of the gray-level intensities. Third, the obtained segmentations were classified with a k-NN approach to reject false-positive (FP) segmentation results.
Summarized algorithm flow. The segmentation algorithm consists of three major processing steps in the solid workflow. First, the locations of the retina boundaries are determined based on an active contour model. Second, pathological cavities are segmented by a cluster analysis of the gray-level intensity histogram. Last, FP segmentations are rejected by classification based on a preclassified sample. The sample is created and saved in the dotted workflow. Based on the segmentations, features were manually extracted and assigned into classes.
Applied to the procedure of image segmentation, cluster analysis methods group pixels to objects that have similar features. The segmentation of fluid-filled regions and ruptures is based on the gray-level intensities histogram of the B-scan by the k-means clustering algorithm. 23 The histogram represents the feature space for the clustering algorithm. Pixels with the same gray-level intensity are assigned into the same cluster but do not have to be connected in the image implicitly.
In Figures 2A–2C the clustering by the k-means method is illustrated in an example for one iteration step. Based on the initial position of four cluster centers, the objects (crosses) were assigned to the cluster with the minimal distance to a cluster center (Figs. 2A, 2B). Depending on the assigned objects, the cluster centers were recalculated, and based on the recalculated cluster centers, a re-assignment of the set was performed (Fig. 2C). The assignment of objects differed within the blue and brown clusters.
Illustration of the k-means clustering algorithm and segmentation results for different number of cluster centers k. (A) Initial positions of the cluster centers (colored circles) defined with the same distances to the corners. (B) Objects are assigned to the cluster centers with minimal distance. Assigned objects were labeled according to their cluster. (C) The cluster centers are recalculated and the objects are re-assigned to the new centers with minimal distance. The assignment of the blue and brown objects differs from the previous step (marked by arrows). (D) Original B-scan that is clustered based on the gray-level intensity histogram. Clustering with the k-means algorithm depends largely on the number of cluster centers k. (E) A low number of cluster centers (k = 2) separates the bright retinal gray-level intensities with high reflectivity from the dark gray-level intensities with low reflectivity. (F) A medium number of clusters (k = 6) separates more structures and the segmentation of pathological cavities satisfies visually examination. (G) A high number of clusters (k = 20) over segments retinal structures.
Cluster analysis results obtained by the iterative k-means algorithm depend in large part on the number of cluster centers k, which must be defined prior to the calculation. However, a definition of a "correct" or "incorrect" clustering is difficult to find. Any partitioning may reflect the structure of the underlying data and depending on the context the correctness of a clustering must be defined by the operator. In Figures 2D–2G the segmentation by the k-means algorithm was processed for different numbers of cluster centers k based on a SD-OCT scan from the Spectralis OCT device. With a number of cluster centers k = 2, the bright retinal gray-level intensities with high reflectivity were separated from the dark intensities with low reflectivity (Fig. 2E). With increasing numbers of clusters centers (i.e., k = 6; Fig. 2F), more structures were separated. If the value for k was too high, an oversegmentation resulted and individual structures that belonged together were segmented separately (Fig. 2G). A possible way to determine the optimal number of cluster centers k is represented by the elbow criteria, in which the clustering is processed with successive increased numbers of cluster centers and validated by an error function. 23 In such test scenarios the elbow-criteria showed an optimal value for the number of cluster centers with k = 6 (Fig. 2F).
Two approaches were developed to classify FP segmentations. To determine the shadowing effects under retinal blood vessels in lateral direction a shadowgraph by the gray-level centers of each A-scan was used. 22 All segmentations within the cross-section of shadowing effects were removed by thresholding.
FP segmentations within the ONL were rejected by the supervised k-NN classification algorithm based on preclassified sample data. In Figure 3, the k-NN algorithm was visualized for preclassified training data defined by two features and an assignment of each object to one of two classes (i.e., squares and circles in Fig. 3A). To determine the class of the new object (i.e., cross in Fig. 3B), a majority decision based on the distances from the five nearest neighbors was performed (Fig. 3B). The majority of the nearest neighbors represented the class the new object was assigned to (squares n = 3 objects).
Illustration of supervised classification with the k-NN algorithm. (A) Preclassified training sample consists of two features (x- and y-axis) and two classes (squares and circles). (B) A new object (cross) is classified based on the sample by a major decision of the five nearest neighbors. The majority decision decides for the squares with three objects and thus the new object is assigned to the square class.
The feature vector for the classification of pathologic cavities is defined by the form and the minimal distance of the segmented contours to the bottom retinal boundary. The form of the contour is defined by Hu moments, and the distance to the boundary is calculated in micrometers because of different scaling factors of the acquired scans. Hu moments define rotation-, translation-, and scaling-invariant features for describing the form of image objects. 24 A total number of 1337 cavities were classified manually; 1045 of these were assigned as positive segmentations and 292 as negative (data not shown).
The proposed algorithm was validated against three expert graders. Figure 4 shows the results of the segmentations of three B-scans of the algorithm and expert 1 (Fig. 4B, blue and green lines) and experts 2 and 3 (Fig. 4C, red and cyan lines). The average processing time for the three B-scans with 24 pathologic cavities was approximately 11 seconds for the algorithm. The experts needed at least 4 minutes per B-scan for the segmentations. Deviations in the segmentation results were seen either with small cavities or at the borders of larger cavities when the surrounding tissue reflectivity was not clearly discernable. Nevertheless, the deviations at these small spots within the B-scan were minor and did not cause large deviations in area or volume calculations.
Evaluation of the automated segmentation results by manual segmentations of three clinical experts with respect to visual accuracy. (A) B-scans segmented by the algorithm and the experts. (B) Comparison of segmentations by the algorithm and expert 1. The contours set by the algorithm are visualized with blue lines and contours set by expert 1 with green lines. (C) Comparison of segmentations by expert 2 and expert 3. The contours set by expert 2 are visualized with red lines and contours set by expert 3 with cyan lines.
The area deviations between the automated algorithm and the manual segmentations of the experts of all 130 segmented cavities are visualized in a Bland-Altman plot in Figure 5. 25 With increasing area the disagreement increased as well, exceeding the standard deviation more likely for larger segmentations. The smallest deviation between algorithm and the experts resulted in a mean area deviation of 769 ± 5366 μm2 (2 SD) for expert 2 and the biggest deviation resulted in a mean area deviation of 2250 ± 7755 μm2 (2 SD) for expert 3. Likewise, the smallest deviation among the experts was between expert 1 and expert 2, with a mean area deviation of 686 ± 5313 μm2 (2 SD), while the biggest deviation was between expert 2 and expert 3, with a mean area deviation of −1473 ± 5606 μm2 (2 SD).
Evaluation of the area deviations between the algorithm and the three experts and the deviations among the experts represented by separate Bland-Altman plots. The smallest area deviation between the algorithm and the experts occurred for expert 2 and the highest deviation for expert 3. Likewise, the smallest deviation among the experts was between expert 1 and expert 2, while the highest deviation was between expert 2 and expert 3. All experts tend to overestimate the areal size in comparison with the algorithm.
Volume data obtained after the segmentation of a C-scan by the algorithm and the three experts are shown in Figure 6. The C-scan comprised of 19 B-scans with a distance between the B-scans of 237 μm. The minimal volume of the pathologic cavities was 0.239 mm3 for the segmentations of expert 2 (Fig. 6B, red line) and the maximal volume was 0.271 mm3 for the segmentations of expert 3 (Fig. 6, cyan line). The segmentation of the algorithm was well within the range of minimal and maximal volumes (0.249 mm3) (Fig. 6, blue line, expert 1 green line). Small deviations in the segmentation results were present at small cavities in the outer nuclear layer (ONL). However, these deviations caused only minimal volume changes.
Evaluation of the segmented volumes within a C-scan for the automated algorithm and the three experts. (A) Illustration of several B-scans of the entire C-scan stack projected to their positions on the infrared fundus image. (B) One segmented B-scan to evaluate the visual accuracy. The segmentations of the automated algorithm are visualized with blue lines, of expert 1 with green lines, of expert 2 with red lines, and of expert 3 with cyan lines. (C) Volume data segmentation of the entire C-scan stack. The volume calculated by the automated algorithm lies within the volumes calculated from the contours set by expert 2 and expert 1.
The intra-evaluator variability for the three experts was evaluated through segmenting the same three B-scans at three different time points within 14 days using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). 26 The ICC was 0.93 for expert 1, 0.98 for expert 2, and 0.97 for expert 3. In contrast, the ICC for the algorithm was always 1.
To demonstrate the potential practical use of the algorithm in the management of vascular retinal diseases, an automated evaluation of the therapeutic effect of the anti-VEGF drug ranibizumab in terms of volume changes of the bullous cavities was carried out for one eye of a patient with a serous retinal detachment associated with wet AMD (Fig. 7). The therapy was analyzed over a 4-year period, during which 18 intravitreal injections were administered to the patient's eye (vertical arrows in Fig. 7). During this period, 31 OCT scans were acquired with the Spectralis OCT device with the volume scan protocol (19 B-scans with approximately 243-μm distance in between) and all volumes were segmented automatically. It can be clearly seen that after each injection the volume decreased, but regrowth occurred after only few weeks. As a retrospective study, the analysis of the 31 OCT C scans was done automatically within 1 hour. Similar evaluations in larger patient cohorts could be performed in a reasonable amount of time.
Automated analysis of volume changes within pathological cavities during anti-VEGF therapy. (A) All C-scan stacks were acquired with the volume scan patterns with a total number of 19 B-scans with approximately 243-μm distance in between and centered on the fovea. (B) Automated segmentation example of the B-scan at the position of the green arrow on the fundus infrared image (blue line) (A). (C) Automated volume segmentations. The therapeutic effect was analyzed over a time period of 4 years with 18 intravitreal ranibizumab injections. Each vertical arrow marks the administration. The plot visualizes the automatically segmented volumes of the 31 OCT measurements acquired over the therapy period.
In our algorithm, the cluster analysis is based on the gray-level intensities of the OCT B-scan. A number of FP segmentations may result. Often, FP objects occur under retinal blood vessels as shadowing effect on the underlying structures and within the ONL with weak reflectivity. FP segmentations were also described by another group, who rejected them upon occurrence within an area smaller then 7 pixels and a reasonably uniform gray-level intensity distribution of a standard deviation greater than a value of 45 within the segmented region. 18 To make our algorithm scaling invariant, we used other features. In our study the classification of the segmented objects was based on the form and the minimal distance to the bottom retinal boundary.
In addition to k-means clustering, the k-NN classification was used to increase specificity of the results. Compared to other classification methods, the k-NN is a robust and not very complex classifier, but an important aim of the project was computational efficacy and robustness of the results for practical use. In line with this, the k-NN algorithm combines accurate implementation with fast computation of feature-based classification and, as presented in the validation of the algorithm, pathological cavities were identified with high accuracy and successfully delineated from surrounding tissue.
The algorithm presented here was developed and evaluated with data acquired from the Spectralis OCT device, with B-scans averaged over a number of scans to reduce speckle noise and eye movements. Other OCT devices use single B-scan acquisition with higher speckle noise that may have a negative impact on the segmentation procedure. We therefore included B-scans with fewer scans in the evaluation set, and the algorithm performed well under such conditions (Fig. 4, bottom line). Furthermore, prior to the segmentation procedure, all B-scans were preprocessed for speckle noise reduction by a general Bayesian estimation, 20 because denoising by a nonlinear complex diffusion filter increases the robustness of a subsequently applied active contour model approach. 17 Nonetheless, for evaluation purposes B-scans with a clear differentiation of pathologic cavities from the rest of retinal structures were selected.
In general, the area segmentations of the experts were slightly larger compared with the algorithm's segmentations. However, the deviations of expert 1 and expert 2 lay within the range of the area deviations among the three experts. The largest deviation occurred between the algorithm and expert 3. Likewise, the largest deviation among the experts occurred between expert 1 and 2 compared with expert 3. The larger segmented areas of all experts were caused by the detection methods, which are (a) greatest contrast drop using the human eye or (b) differences in gray-level intensities in the algorithm. Furthermore, the clustering algorithm depends on the a priori definition of the number of cluster centers k. A finer adjustment based on clustering of gray-level intensities is hardly feasible. If k is set too small, retinal structures cannot be delineated exactly, and if k is set too high, an oversegmentation of the structures results.
Based on a comparison of the segmentations of one C-scan, the value produced by the algorithm of 0.249 mm3 remains within the minimal volume of 0.239 mm3 segmented by expert 2 and the maximal volume of 0.271 mm3 segmented by expert 1. The deviation between the volume segmentations of the experts demonstrates the problem of the interevaluator variability. Of course, the volume segmented by the algorithm does not represent the exact and true delineation of the cavity, but this is also not the case for the experts' results. In particular, the problem at the borders of large cavities and in certain pathologies in general, where gray-level intensities may not be absolutely null but significantly lower compared to the surrounding tissue, it largely depends on the experience of the expert to segment the pathological tissue. This will always cause differences among experts and cannot be solved by the algorithm. Only histological examination will resolve this question, but this is obviously not possible. The advantage of the segmentation results obtained from the algorithm is that they always will be identical, representing a possibility to remove the interevaluator variability from the set of errors.
In addition, time also matters. Compared with the manual segmentations in the clinical trial of Golbaz et al., 9 in which only 11 B-scans of a stack of 128 B-scans were analyzed because of the very time-consuming procedure, here no B-scans were previously selected for automated segmentation, and the entire stack of 19 B-scans was quickly segmented by the automated algorithm. The availability of such algorithms opens a wide range of applications that were not possible until now simply because of time restrictions in clinical routine.
Depiction of volume changes of a serous retinal detachment in one patient with wet AMD during anti-VEGF therapy demonstrated the potential practical use of the algorithm. Enabling the paradigm of PRN with a detailed OCT analysis generates as much safety as possible in therapeutic treatments. Furthermore, macular thickness information could be correlated with the segmented pathologic cavities providing new analysis tools of ocular diseases.
In conclusion, the algorithm presented here for the segmentation of pathologic cavities demonstrates segmentation results comparable to manual segmentations by clinical experts, in a fast and reliable manner. This enables the ophthalmologist to analyze B- and C-scans for diagnostics and clinical trials in a fast and replicable way.
Supported by the von Behring Röntgen Foundation (57-0016).
Duda RO Hart PE Stork DG. Pattern Classification. 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 2001.
Hu M. Visual pattern recognition by moment invariants. IRE Trans Inf Theor . 1962; 8: 179–187.
Fleiss H. Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley; 1981.
Beale EML. Cluster Analysis . London: Scientific Control System; 1969.
Socher R Maas A Manning CD. Spectral Chinese restaurant processes: nonparametric clustering based on similarities. J Mach Learn Res Proc Track . 2011; 15: 698–706.
Zortea M Skrovseth SO Godtliebsen F. Automatic learning of spatial patterns for diagnosis of skin lesions. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc . 2010: 5601–5604.
MP and KS contributed equally to the work presented here and should therefore be regarded as equivalent authors.


text:
package org.cloudiator.messaging.services;

import com.google.inject.Inject;
import org.cloudiator.messages.Function.*;
import org.cloudiator.messaging.MessageInterface;
import org.cloudiator.messaging.ResponseCallback;
import org.cloudiator.messaging.ResponseException;

import javax.inject.Named;

public class FunctionServiceImpl implements FunctionService {

  private final MessageInterface messageInterface;

  @Inject(optional = true)
  @Named("responseTimeout")
  private long timeout = 20000;

  @Inject
  FunctionServiceImpl(MessageInterface messageInterface) {
    this.messageInterface = messageInterface;
  }

  @Override
  public FunctionCreatedResponse createFunction(
      CreateFunctionRequestMessage createFunctionRequestMessage) throws ResponseException {
    return messageInterface.call(createFunctionRequestMessage, FunctionCreatedResponse.class, timeout);
  }

  @Override
  public void createFuntionAsync(
      CreateFunctionRequestMessage createFunctionRequestMessage,
      ResponseCallback<FunctionCreatedResponse> callback) {
    messageInterface
        .callAsync(createFunctionRequestMessage, FunctionCreatedResponse.class, callback);
  }

  @Override
  public void deleteFuntionAsync(
      DeleteFunctionRequestMessage deleteFunctionRequestMessage,
      ResponseCallback<FunctionDeletedResponse> callback) {
    messageInterface
        .callAsync(deleteFunctionRequestMessage, FunctionDeletedResponse.class, callback);

  }

  @Override
  public FunctionQueryResponse getFunctions(FunctionQueryMessage functionQueryMessage)
      throws ResponseException {
    return messageInterface.call(functionQueryMessage, FunctionQueryResponse.class, timeout);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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I made it at #9 on the Udemy Top 10 List for November 2012 Affiliate Challenge. As a reward I got this very nice Udemy sweat shirt!
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text:
Q: Why does .NET XPath not like [position() le 10001] I am passing the following in my C# code (.NET 3.5):
XPathNavigator.
    Compile(/windward-studios/Products/Product/@ProductID[position() le 10001])

and I am getting:

System.Xml.XPath.XPathException
  occurred
  Message='/windward-studios/Products/Product/@ProductID[position()
  le 10001]' has an invalid token.
  Source=System.Xml   StackTrace:
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.CheckToken(LexKind
  t)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParsePredicate(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseStep(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseLocationPath(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParsePathExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseUnionExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseUnaryExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseMultiplicativeExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseAdditiveExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelationalExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseEqualityExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseAndExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseOrExpr(AstNode
  qyInput)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseXPathExpresion(String
  xpathExpresion)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.QueryBuilder.Build(String
  query, Boolean allowVar, Boolean
  allowKey)
         at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.QueryBuilder.Build(String
  query, Boolean& needContext)
         at System.Xml.XPath.XPathExpression.Compile(String
  xpath, IXmlNamespaceResolver
  nsResolver)
         at System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator.Compile(String
  xpath)
         at WindwardReportsDrivers.net.windward.datasource.xml.XPathDataSource.XPathDocNode.SelectNodes(XPathNavigator
  nav, String xpath, String sortXPath)
  InnerException:

Any idea why?
thanks - dave

A: There's a couple of problems with your query:

*

*It's <=, not le. Remember to escape < if you're writing it inside XML.

*You're trying to apply [] on the attribute node - that's probably not what you want. Perhaps you want .../Product[position() le 10001]/@ProductID ?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Drivers in Quebec will soon be seeing new rules and restrictions adopted as part of changes to the province's Highway Safety Code, tabled by the provincial government last Friday. The modifications proposed in Bill 165 aim to address changing realities in the driving environment and help protect vulnerable road users and at-risk segments of the driving population.
The new rules were formulated following a vast public consultation process that took place in the winter of 2017.
All users of the province's public roads will be obliged to act with prudence and respect, particularly in relation with more-vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians. The latter groups will also be obliged to act in such a way as to maximize their own safety.
The current ban on hand-held devices equipped with phone functions will be extended to all portable electronic devices. Fines for drivers breaking this law will increase from $80-100 to between $300-600, and fines will be doubled in the case of repeat offences, accompanied by immediate 3, 7 or 30 driver-S permit suspensions depending on whether it is a first, second or third repeat offence.
One of the more controversial elements of the modifications to the Code is that drivers will continue to be allowed to consult a display screen (i.e. a GPS, or built-in screen) providing information, as long as the device is placed so that the driver can directly or indirectly see the image displayed on the screen.
All repeat offenders will be required to have an alcohol interlock device in their vehicle for the rest of their lives, although they will have the opportunity, after 10 years, to request that this condition be lifted if they can convince a magistrate that they no longer pose a threat due to alcohol or drug consumption.
The date each winter by which all vehicles will need to be fitted with tires certified for winter driving will be moved up from the current December 15 to December 1; the date on which those tires can be removed (March 1) will remain the same as before.
Fines will be doubled for speeding in school zones (during school hours) and for failing to obey signals, a crossing guard or an officer of the peace.
Drivers with learner's permits will be subject to a curfew that applies from midnight to 5 a.m., while drivers with a probationary licence who are 19 years of age or under will only be allowed to transport up to three passengers under the age of 19 during those same hours, for a period of 12 months.
Quebec also intends to adapt its legislation to promote the introduction to shared roads (speed limit: 20 km/h) and "vélorues", roads on which speed limits will be set at 30 km/h, in order to improve shared-road use by motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The bill also opens the door to pilot projects regarding the testing and eventual use of autonomous-driving cars in the province.
Drivers in Quebec will have to comply with two new laws that are now coming into effect to better protect cyclists.
From June 6-12, the SAAQ is raising awareness about the dangers of speeding on the road. Will you get the message this time around?


Hyderabad: Four years ago, on March 14 2014, the Telugu film industry's biggest megastar, Shri Pawan Kalyan, formed his political party, JanaSena.
As a leader, Shri Pawan Kalyan swayed the masses in the 2014 elections, without contesting for a single seat and yet commanded from the masses the deep respect that was instrumental in deciding the final election result.
The JanaSena party was founded by Shri Pawan Kalyan on the sound principles of justice and fairness in keeping with the age- old Indian ethos and unbroken chain of knowledge and traditions of this great land. The party is active in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Born into an ordinary lower-middle class family, Shri Pawan Kalyan represents a beautiful, charismatic and moral capacity to transcend the stereotypes associated with political leadership. His powerful connect with the ordinary Indian, his undying and ever-increasing followers of all ages, his everyday interaction with his followers, friends and colleagues, his erudition that places him among the highest of scholars, his humility and extraordinary commitment to public morality are features of a great leader in the making.


text:
Q: How to deal with sample proportion that is biased? Say you want to give a survey to people from a population and assume that

*

*people who volunteer to take the survey are not necessarily  representative of the population ("volunteer bias") and

*you don't actually know the underlying population demographics.
To be more specific, say you are trying to measure the gender balance in a certain population, and for example, the true balance is 50/50 (which you don't know), but the sample you get among survey takers is 55/45 (more females). Is there anything that can be done?


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Problems of loneliness and isolation are reaching epidemic proportions in Western societies, with significant consequences for both mental and physical health. The poet Marianne Moore famously observed that "the cure for loneliness is solitude". But what is the difference between these two states? This article investigates the foundations of our contemporary desire for private space – of time spent alone with our own thoughts – in the spiritual vision of the Romantic poets and the American Transcendentalists. It reveals that the concept of solitude is at the very heart of modern life, from our love of nature to our ideas of social equality and democracy, and, most importantly, contemporary understanding of 'the self'.
In 2015 I gave a talk for the Oxford University Centre for Continuous Education as part of a series of day schools on 'Approaches to Mysticism'. My fellow speakers explored solitude and retreat within the context of long-established religious paths – Buddhism, Christianity, Islam – and it fell to me to talk about its importance for the many people nowadays who are not attached to any formal tradition. To do this, I found myself going back to the artists and thinkers of the 18th and 19th centuries, at the very start of what we think as the modern era, and was surprised to find how essential the notion of solitude – having a private space in which to explore our thoughts and feelings – was to the development of concepts we now see as foundational for western society: individualism, freedom, social and political equality, democracy. This article is an attempt to explore this connection in a little more depth.
The contemporary importance of solitude can be quite easily seen in the way that we live now in most western societies. In traditional cultures, it was rare to be alone; people lived in close contact with one another in small towns and villages, or in small houses where parents, children and grandchildren co-existed. But these days, a significant section of the population lives by themselves. The exact figures vary, but according to some sources, as many as 34% of Europeans and 27% of Americans now occupy single households. This number is set to increase over the next decades, not only because of the numbers of older people who find themselves alone as life expectancy increases, but also because more and more young and middle-aged people are choosing the single life.
Even if we live with other people, we now regard it almost as a human right, once we reach adolescence, to have a room of our own. And this trend is extended in the age of computers and smartphones, when even in the midst of a crowd on a bus or train we can put on our headphones and retreat into a world of our own creation. Of course, one reason for this is that we are more affluent now than ever before and can afford to buy our own flat or a house large enough to give every child their own space.
But this is not the whole story: we choose how to use our wealth, and therefore we live like this because we see it as desirable. In previous eras, this was not at all the case. The psychiatrist Anthony Storr, whose book Solitude, published in the 1980s, is a seminal work on the subject, points out that for most people before the 19th century who were not monks or mystics, withdrawal from communal living was not seen to be desirable at all, and it was sought only in very particular circumstances, such as times of grief or illness.
At the same time, as a society we are now struggling with the new problem of loneliness – people who find themselves alone when they have not chosen to be. It is increasingly understood that the consequences of this are not only psychological, although conditions such as depression are without doubt more prevalent amongst people who feel isolated. Recent research has shown that healthwise feeling lonely is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, having high blood pressure or being overweight and is very likely to lead to premature death. The social consequences are so great that it has been spoken of as an 'epidemic'.
One of the most famous, and perceptive, quotes about the matter comes from the American poet Marianne Moore, who said: "The cure for loneliness is solitude". This implies that solitude is not just a matter of being physically alone; it is a state of mind, an attitude which embraces the possibilities which open up when we are away from the pressures of society.
The perception of solitude and retreat as something necessary for the development of all human beings – as an essential component of a fulfilled life – came about in quite a specific way with the Romantic movement of the 19th century, when poets such as Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge and Shelley began to extol its virtues in their work. I am going to concentrate on the work of William Wordsworth, who has been called 'the poet of solitude', but one can find many other examples. Byron, for instance, confided to his diary at the very height of his fame: "I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone".
A good place to start is with Wordsworth's 1804 poem, usually referred to as Daffodils – although Wordsworth himself left it untitled – describing an experience in the Lake District in the North of England. This is one of the best-known verses in the English language, and almost everyone can quote lines from it. But as with many things which are very familiar, its profound meaning is not always registered.
There are two mentions of solitude in the poem – in the first verse and in the last. In the first line, he uses the word 'lonely', but not, I would maintain, to indicate the kind of alienated state of isolation of which we have already spoken. Nor should it be taken literally, for we know that his sister, Dorothy, was with him. Rather, this image of wandering and floating over the landscape without a definite goal is a metaphor, and what it denotes is freedom of thought – a state where the mind is allowed to roam untrammeled by expectation or dogma.
The 'fruit' that Montaigne was seeking was the thoroughly modern one of new ideas and new concepts which go beyond existing intellectual or cultural boundaries. This was also the aim of the Romantics, who specifically rejected the mediation of the church and the state in their search for truth. They were self-confessed non-conformists, longing for fresh insights and visions of grandeur which came from a realm outside that of received wisdom. Such insights can only be given by what we might call in a more theistic context 'inspiration', or even 'revelation', and they invited this by opening up the mind and letting it 'float' and 'wander' like a Wordsworthian cloud.
This image of the daffodils is so familiar now, and lends itself so readily to a chocolate-box type depiction, that it is easy to miss the fact that Wordsworth is intending to convey a dramatic and overwhelming experience which powerfully impinged itself upon his soul, creating in him a feeling, a deep emotion. So strong was its effect that it remained with him and could be evoked many years later, as he describes in the fourth verse. One could say perhaps that what was given was a taste of eternity, which, being essentially outside of time, remained accessible as an ever-fresh experience.
the soul, and the dead heart is brought to life.
For the Romantics, solitude tended to mean withdrawal from human society in order to commune with nature, and specifically, nature in the raw – that is, wilderness. What they sought was not the aesthetically beautiful as such, but the sublime – that aspect which reveals to us the grandeur and majesty of the divine. This was what poets like Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron were pursuing when they made their visits to the wild landscapes of the Lake District or the Alps, and what was depicted by Romantic artists like Turner when he painted the sea in its most turbulent mode. There is a hint of this even in the gentle imagery of Daffodils, which stretch towards infinity – "Continuous as the stars that shine/And twinkle on the milky way".
Great truths, than touch and handle little ones.
Here there is an implicit understanding that as human beings, we need to participate in society, in human affairs, and to use our intellect and reason. But in order to keep "the horizon of the mind enlarged" so that we do not get completely caught up in petty day-to-day concerns, or "little truths", we need to periodically return to a state of solitude and be reminded of immensity and "great truths".
The thoroughwort is a little plant, a member of the sunflower family, that is used in traditional Indian medicine to set broken bones. So here again we have an echo of the Wordsworthian idea, expressed by a man of enormous intellectual ability, that reason by itself can go astray, and become crooked like a broken bone.
The influence of Thoreau and Emerson had very direct consequences upon public policy in the USA, as it led to the setting up of the great National Parks in the late 19th century – Yellowstone in 1872, Yosemite in 1890. This happened largely through the efforts of John Muir, who was a passionate follower of Emerson. Such things are now an essential part of our contemporary culture; America has 59 National Parks, visited by more than 80 million people every year, and the UK has 15, including the Lake District, which alone receives nearly 12 million visitors annually. In addition, there are many smaller places which are open to the public, where we can all go and experience the beneficial and healing power of nature, and – in the face of "the unfathomable" – be brought back to "great truths".
Hikers at Cedar Ridge, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Photograph: Dan Leeth / Alamy Stock Photo.
But perhaps the most important innovation that the Romantics brought was the idea that the sensations and emotions experienced at moments of insight, such as described in Daffodils, are important and valid – that they constitute real knowledge. This was radical in almost every sense, because unlike the learning offered by universities or kept sacrosanct within the enclaves of religion, this kind of experience does not require the mediation of external authority and is open to everyone, regardless of class, education, race or gender.
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages… [So] trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
This rallying call for every person (we should note that, as was common in his time, Emerson uses 'man' as a generic term for all human beings) to take control of their destiny based upon their own perceptions and conscience, was very much in the spirit of an age when both the USA and the UK were moving towards universal suffrage – i.e., the principle that every member of society, not just an educated or wealthy élite, should have a say in government.
The practice of solitude does not always involve immersion in nature. It can take place in the midst of everyday life by taking ourselves away from other people into our own space – to a study, a bedroom, a summerhouse in the garden. Wordsworth's "bliss of solitude", for instance, took place as he lay upon his "couch", not as he was walking in the hills. Giving importance to our thoughts and feelings naturally gives rise to a desire to reflect upon them, and also to express them creatively.
Anthony Storr's called his seminal book is Solitude: A Return to the Self, and in it he points out that exploring our relationship with our own selves is the very essence of retreat. As Montaigne noted: "Solitude is being wedded to ourselves".
This aspect was particularly explored by the poet Emily Dickinson, a peripheral member of the Transcendentalist group who was admired by Emerson and corresponded with him, although she never met him personally. Dickinson lived all her life with her family in Amherst, Massachusetts, and in her final years rarely left her house, or even her room. Whether her isolation was voluntary, or caused by an illness such as epilepsy, is the subject of debate. But what is certain is that in her poetry she conducts a thorough investigation of the state of alone-ness in all its guises, both joyful and terrible. This is one of her most famous poems, entitled simply Solitude.
Dickinson referred to her self as "the undiscovered continent" and found there the "finite infinity" that the Romantics and the Transcendentalists had sought in nature. In this exploration of the "landscape of the spirit", her observations come very close to those of mystical writers, whose most profound purpose through the ages has been to discover the divine within themselves, "Into my mind shines that which space cannot contain", said St Augustine in the 4th century; "To know oneself is to know the divine image and likeness in oneself", said his contemporary, St Ambrose.
So in our exploration of what it means to be in a state of solitude – rather than simply alone or lonely – I would suggest that it is to be in contact with our self in its most profound depths. This is the great opportunity presented by our contemporary access to privacy and personal space, which seen like this is an unprecedented privilege. So to end, I bring a verse by a very modern poet, Philip Larkin, speaking about a stolen moment of solitude in his poem Best Company.
Viciously, I shut the door.
Unfolds, emerges, what I am.
The first version of this article, entitled 'The Bliss of Solitude', was given at a day seminar at The Oxford University Department of Continuous Education on May 21st, 2016 as part of the series 'Approaches to Mysticism'.
Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1878. Image: Samuel W. Rowse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Anthony Storr, Solitude: A Return to the Self (Flamingo, 1988).
Michel de Montaigne, Essais (Simon Millanges, Jean Richer, 1580).
All quotes from Watson 'The Bliss of Solitude'. Amir Khusrau, The Bazaar of Love, translated by Paul E. Losensky and Sunil Sharma (Penguin, 2011).
William Wordsworth, The Prelude, 1850 version, http://triggs.djvu.org/djvu-editions.com/WORDSWORTH/PRELUDE1850/Download.pdf.
Walden or: Life in the Woods (1854, revised edition, Penguin, 2016).
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Essay on Self-reliance', http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1928 revised edition, Penguin, 2004).
Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems (1924 revised edition, Faber & Faber, 1976).
Suzanne Juhasz, The Undiscovered Continent: Emily Dickinson and the space of the mind (Indiana University Press, 1993).
Jane Clark is a teacher, researcher and editor living in Oxford. She has been involved in the study of mysticism, particularly the work of the Andalusian philosopher/mystic Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabī, for nearly forty years. She has given many lectures and seminars on the subject both in the UK (University of Oxford, Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, Beshara Trust, Temenos Academy) and internationally, and is continuously engaged in research and translation of Ibn 'Arabī's writings. She has a special interest in the relevance of traditional teachings to contemporary thought; she was a founder editor of The Journal of Consciousness Studies and is currently editor of Beshara Magazine.
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Xeno Swarm
Multiple Estrangements in Philosophy and Science Fiction
DHALGREN AND LYOTARD: Oedipus Rex, Moebius Strips
January 15, 2016 / terenceblake / Leave a comment
I have been live-blogging my reading of Samuel Delany's SF novel DHALGREN, which some regard as obscure and "impenetrable", although I am not finding it so. DHALGREN is a meta-fictional SF text, that, following Laruelle, one could call a "philo-fiction". Perhaps the best philosophical comparison would be with Jean-François Lyotard's LIBIDINAL ECONOMY. Both books were published in 1974.
In his book, Lyotard begins by treating the body (any body, including the text as body) as a Moebius strip of singularities and of intensive passages. LIBIDINAL ECONOMY is in many ways a response to Deleuze and Guattari's ANTI-OEDIPUS (1972), both its prolongation (repetition) and re-vision (difference). ANTI-OEDIPUS is not against Oedipus but against the structuralist interpretation of the Oedipus story as repressing desire's multiplicities. DHALGREN, like LIBIDINAL ECONOMY and ANTI-OEDIPUS, is a poststructuralist pluralist summum of 60s experimentation, and it was conceived by Delany as having the form of a Moebius strip.
I spoke to Lyotard in 1980 about a problem with the pluralism of intensities expressed in LIBIDINAL ECONOMY. I argued that it seemed to lead either to a relativism and eclecticism where everything is equal and so anything is possible, or to a nihilistic paralysis where everything is equal so nothing is possible, and that a third way was needed.
Lyotard acknowledged the problem, and said that the third possibility would be to limp along (boiter). I think this was an allusion to a re-imagined Oedipus the name means "swollen foot") as a way out of the ideology of the Oedipus complex. The insistence in DHALGREN on the protagonist's having one shod and one unshod foot is an allusion to Oedipus. Limping between summa and amnesia, between structure and formlessness, between repetition and difference, between circle and rhizome.
VISIONS OF DHALGREN (2): incipit – circle or rhizome?
DHALGREN begins with a cryptic three lines that seem to announce an incomprehensible post-modern prose experiment. But the first chapter (54 pages) is of fairly classical facture except for the first section (10 pages).
In the first section an unnamed amnesiac protagonist who has himself forgotten his name meets a woman, who seems to be expecting him, just outside the city. They make love, and she guides him to a cave where he finds a chain made of prisms, mirrors, and lenses, that he wraps around his torso and waist (the whole chapter is titled "Prism, Mirror, Lens"). He comes out of the cave, and chases after the woman, only to find her turning into a tree. The rest of the chapter is more straightforward, and I will talk about it in the next post.
This may seem a daunting beginning, but it is so only because it groups together in a small space some familiar SF tropes. In the last few months I have read a science-fiction fantasy novel where the protagonist does not remember who he is or his name (Roger Zelazny, NINE PRINCES IN AMBER), a young woman transforms into a tree (Terry Brooks, THE ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA), a mysterious zone exists after some unnamed event where strange things can happen (Jeff VanderMeer, THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY). So I see no reason to stop reading and to throw the book aside in panic.
The style is dense and poetic, but this is an aid to comprehension. Even if the woman's transformation into a tree comes in the narrative as a surprise, with no proposed causal mechanism or other justification, it is prepared and foreshadowed in the language used to describe her and the encounter:
The leaves winked. What had been wind was a motion in brush below. His hand went to the rock behind. She stood up, two dozen feet down and away, wearing only shadows the moon dropped from the viney maple (page 1).
The woman emerges, naked, out of wind-moved leaves and maple-shadows and motion in the brush.
The most enigmatic part is the first three lines:
to wound the autumnal city.
So howled out for the world to give him a name.
The in-dark answered with wind.
This is rather enigmatic. Much has been made of the conjectured circular form of the novel, where the first line supposedly completes the unfinished last sentence. I do not see that this can be proven, nor does it add anything much to the meaning. Yes, we need to re-read the book to get more out of it, as the example of the woman's tree-becoming suggests. Delany has revealed that in early drafts for the book he envisioned a moebius strip or a klein bottle structure, but these mathematical figures should not overly impress an SF reader. The message would be: read this several times and your understanding of it will be transformed at each reading.
I see syntactic fragmentation and semantic indeterminacy. There is a theme of damage and decline. The circle-hypothesis makes " to wound" an infinitive. But one can just as easily imagine a sentence where "wound" is the past of "wind", e.g.
Around the place he came to wound the autumnal city
This hypothesis is just as plausible if we consider that twisting is as prevalent as circularity in the book. I feel that the notions of ambguity, uncertainty and indeterminacy, and of the necessity for interpretation are being foregrounded here. The "circle" is too reassuring, an empty assumption. Difference, as in the rhizome, undoes circles, as anyone knows. Delany is a novelist of difference since his encounter with Saussure, structuralism, Derrida, etc.
In the next sentence, there is no subject named, which makes its grammatical form reflect its content: "So howled out for the world to give him a name". This continues the theme of indeterminacy into that of non-identity. Having no name is a potentially psychotic or mystical experience, or merely the post-modern experience of a world where things are less fixed, and have the names they need to have in the situation. Names are "wind", in both the sense of flatus voci, empty signifiers, or in a more Heraclitean sense of flux:
This could be no answer at all, or else a perfectly good answer.
VISIONS OF DHALGREN (1): the city of pure difference
January 9, 2016 September 1, 2018 / terenceblake / 2 Comments
Liveblogging reading DHALGREN by Samuel Delany.
DHALGREN has the reputation of being a difficult read, being experimental in style and structure, and also in genre – as people disagree over whether it is "really" science fiction.
I have recently become interested in the idea of philo-fiction, an expression proposed by François Laruelle to designate a sort of writing intermediate between philosophy and science-fiction. After discussing ANATHEM by Neal Stephenson and AURORA by Kim Stanley Robinson as cases of philo-fiction, I wish to consider Samuel Delany's SF novel DHALGREN, published in 1974, as exemplifying this genre.
First, as mode of entry I will discuss the postface "The Recombinant City" by William Gibson. It emerges from Gibson's (non-)interpretation that he regards the book itself DHALGREN as metaphorically a "prose-city", the city as rhizome. The "rhizome" is a philosophical concept proposed by Deleuze and Guattari as an image of pluralism in thought and action, containing multiple points of entry and of exit.
Samuel Delany's Dhalgren is a prose-city a labyrinth, a vast construct the reader learns to enter by any one of a multiplicity of doors.
The book may well be a rhizomic "prose-city", but the city that is described in DHALGREN is called "Bellona", and seems to have only one entrance. However, directions are unstable and misleading in Bellona, and the sunrise seems to change location in a way that is not linked with the seasons. Tak, the guide to the city for the protagonist, remarks:
"I've thought, maybe: It's not the season that changes. It's us. The whole city shifts, turns, rearranges itself. All the time. And rearranges us …"
Gibson is very eulogistic of DHALGREN:
It is a work of sustained conceptual daring, executed by the most remarkable prose stylist to have emerged from the culture of American science fiction.
Indeed, one is entitled to affirm that "conceptual daring" is the book-city. Given the traditional definition of science-fiction as the literature of cognitive estrangement ranging from the most scrupulous scientific accuracy to the most speculative flights of noetic experimentation, conceptual daring is a good synonym for cognitive estrangement in its more speculative aspect.
DHALGREN is a post-modern novel, and so attempts to push back the frontiers of writing to the point that some readers complain that they do not "understand" it. However, "understanding" is not the only mode of appreciating a novel. Understanding is the mode suited to the academic contract between writer and reader, assuring the latter that well-codified significations lie behind even the most difficult text. Gibson, however, is in search of something else.
I have never understood it. I have sometimes felt that I partially understood it, or that I was nearing the verge of understanding it. This has never caused me the least discomfort, or interfered in any way with my pleasure in the text. If anything, the opposite has been true.
Something else is happening in a post-modern text, something other than understanding of pre-given significations. We are no longer in the domain of familiar ideas, but of the attempt to bring our stereotypes into question, to transform our ideas and expectations. This is the domain of meaning. The cultural contract of communicating more or less familiar forms of signification is abrogated in philo-fiction.
To enter Dhalgren is to be progressively stripped of various certainties, many of these having to do with unspoken, often unrecognized, aspects of the reader's cultural contract with the author.
Gibson assigns this feeling of unfamiliarity or even of uncanniness to an ethics of experimentation, and to a "singularity" that he associates with a particular place, America, and a particular historical period, the sixties:
No one under thirty-five today can remember the singularity that overtook America in the nineteen-sixties, and the generation that experienced it most directly seems largely to have opted for amnesia and denial.
In his lectures on WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? (page 44), Alain Badiou talks about this same period too, as exemplary for the experience of difference, of rupture, and of change. This experience is not limited to America. So somewhere, somewhen, a rhizomatic city came to be.
But something did happen: a city came to be, in America. (And I imagine I use America here as shorthand for something else; perhaps for the industrialized nations of the American Century.)
In 1980 I was living in Sydney, and I had a dream in which I was wandering parched for thirst in the desert. I heard a group of Althusserians talking arrogantly and I could not bear them. Then I saw a vision of a city on the horizon. In the dream it was called "Paris, the city of pure difference". I ended up going there to live the next year and to attend lectures by Serres, Deleuze, Lyotard, and Foucault . Paris was my Dhalgren.
This city had no specific locale, and its internal geography was mainly fluid…There may have been those who wished to enter that city, having glimpsed it in the distance, but who found themselves baffled, and turned back.
This was my case in the dream, and in my life then: I caught a glimpse of that city. But I was not turned back.Let us enter Dhalgren together.
ZELAZNY'S AMBER AS PLATONIC FANTASY: compassion for the shadows
January 2, 2016 / terenceblake / Leave a comment
Review of "Nine Princes in Amber" by Roger Zelazny
This is an engrossing story, and I read it very quckly, despite having read it three times before (over a 40 year period). The book is only 175 pages long, so quite short by more modern standards. To be fair, it is only the first instalment in a five volume tale. The hero, Corwin, is a quasi-immortal prince of Amber, the one real world, exiled in one of the infinite Shadow worlds, our Earth, with no memory of his past. The action begins straight away, and he must learn his powers, his identity, and his world as he goes. The language is masterful, as Zelazny moves from factual to poetic, from archaism to slang, as if it were second nature.
All possibilities exist in Shadow, so a prince of Amber can "walk" through shadow worlds till he arrives in one with any property he can envisage. For example, a world where he is worshipped as a god, and so can raise a faithful army. No attempt is given to explain this premise in the first series of 5 volumes (the Corwin cycle). In the later pentalogy (the Merlin cycle) it is suggested that the shadows correspond to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, but in the first pentalogy no such science-based explanation is given. Amber is the Platonic model, and all other worlds are mere shadows, as are the people who populate them. We could call this an "ontological fantasy". Hut the metaphysical premise is not treated speculatively, but merely as an effective plot device for maximising the possibilities of adventure, just as Corwin's immortality functions to give him more-than-human experience, training, and first-hand knowledge. But not wisdom.
Corwin is likeable, but not wise. He is spontaneous and cagey, cynical and poetic, adventurous and contemplative. He has the typical arrogance and self-absorption of his brothers, their indifference to the lives of the people of the shadows. However, he has learned some compassion in his exile in our world. He occasionally spares an individual life when one of his brothers would have killed without a second thought. Strangely, his compassion manifests when he is willing to lead an entire army of his faithful to their doom, but feels "sorry" for them.
One dated feaure of this first volume is the very subordinate role of women in the story. The women are all weak, both in power and in personality. This impression can be attenuated, but not justified or eradicated, by the fact that the narrator is Corwin, a pathological mythomaniac. He is reciting, or dictating, this account as he waits before the "Courts of Chaos", so the seemingly simple cosmology is perhaps more complicated than we were initially led to believe, and his motivations in telling the story may be complex.
HARRY AUGUST, ACCELERATIONISM AND THE POWER OF THE FALSE
Review of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North
This is an enjoyable story based on an interesting premise. The premise is the existence of "kalachakra", people who when they die are reborn to the same life, at the same point in time, in the same body, but with their memories intact. The novel explores several surprising logical consequences of this premise, but the phenomenon is never explained, so it remains basically a fantasy premise. The bad guy, Victor, is trying to modify the timeline at each rebirth so as to eliminate opposition and to accelerate scientific and technological progress so as to construct a "quantum mirror". This would give him absolute knowledge of, and presumably absolute power over, the universe. So the novel itself incorporates a struggle between the genres of fantasy and of science fiction.
The narrative is in the first person, as Harry August recounts his first fifteen lives. Harry is one of the few kalachakra endowed with perfect memory of their past lives, so his account can be detailed. However, a kalachakra must be careful not to be specific about their origins, as this information can be used to make sure they were never born, thus deleting them permanently from the timeline. So Harry has every reason to be an unreliable narrator. The story is told in nonlinear fashion at the beginning, as Harry slides from one life to another to fill in context and motivation, and then straightens out as the battle between him and Victor gains momentum.
The story seems a little difficult to follow at first, due to the complexity of the image of time underlying the initial premise. However, the time-image is not really very complicated, as it is basically linear time with re-sets when a kalachakra dies, allowing for passage of information from the future to the past, and progressive modification of the time-line. This is something that an association of kalachakras, the Cronus Club, tries to keep to a minimum.
Victor's accelerationism is bringing him ever closer to the Quantum Mirror, but it is also ruining the planet at an ever faster rate. Harry shares sum of Victor's curiosity, but cannot accept the means to the end, the ecological degradation, the overweening narcissism. In a way, both are demi-gods, but Harry opposes Victor's hubris, based on physics, with the more humble science of accounting. Both are masters of cunning and of simulation, so the end is predictably ambiguous.
A Sky of Books and Movies
Asking the Wrong Questions
L'épaule d'Orion
Le culte d'Apophis
Neal Asher's Blog
Neither Kings nor Americans
Philip K. Dick Review
RARITANIA
SFFaudio
Val's Random Comments
Weighing a pig doesn't fatten it
MARGINAL THOUGHTS ON THE PERIPHERAL (1): we are the "polts" in the machine
LA SF "POST-EGANIENNE": canular ou proto-concept?
YMIR – Un Incipit "Post-Eganien"
LE MOUVEMENT ANTI-SPOILER: un non-sens philosophique
YMIR ET LE CHANT QUANTIQUE (No Quantum, No Cry)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I thought this could wait until tomorrow. But it simply cannot. Armed only with a flashlight, I just experienced one of the funniest moments of my life, a first in many ways. Never a good thing when the phrase, " The shitters full " comes to mind. Cousin Eddie would be proud.
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Ahahahaha, I am picturing it, and it cracks me up so much.


text:
These Retailers Have Been Staying Open. Employees Say They're Afraid For Themselves And Others.
"I see a lot of elderly people walk the mall in the morning," said one employee at a Sunglass Hut, surrounded by many closed shops in a popular mall in Minnesota. "They wouldn't be coming in if none of the stores were open."
by Albert Samaha
Matt York / AP
A sign posted at a Starbucks in Phoenix on March 15 tells customers that the coffee company is temporarily not accepting reusable cups, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
At Gap stores across the country, employees have brought sanitizer from home because the company has been unable to restock supplies.
At Starbucks, employees serve coffee to long lines of customers picking up orders, including elderly people and some patrons suffering dry coughing fits.
At GameStop, customers purchase plastic disc cases that employees can't disinfect because they ran out of cleaning wipes.
At Spencer's on Monday and Tuesday, coupons were sent out for "in-store" purchases that expire at the end of the month. Meanwhile, G-Star RAW held a sample sale for employees in Manhattan, leading one of them to tell BuzzFeed News, "It's a pandemic — who's shopping for jeans? You can't eat denim."
At Sunglass Hut, executives asked workers, in an email, to "purchase hydrogen peroxide from a local store" and make their own disinfectant for the products that customers place on their faces because their usual distributor is prioritizing medical facilities.
Provided to BuzzFeed News
Screenshot of an email asking employees to "purchase hydrogen peroxide from a local store."
At a Best Buy in New York, a manager who'd developed a severe cough worked for most of the day before going home two hours before the end of his shift in the late afternoon.
And at Ikea, in-store employees encounter customers who drop in not to buy any furniture but simply to hang out because "everything else is closed," as one employee at a store in the southwest recalled.
As major metropolitan areas shut down and the federal government asks people not to gather in groups of more than 10, many retail workers around the nation have heard a different coronavirus message from their employers: We're still open, and you still need to come to work.
BuzzFeed News spoke to more than 75 employees who have been told to keep clocking in at workplaces that sell products and services they describe as "nonessential." They expressed frustration at their employers, anxiety about catching or spreading the virus, and guilt over contributing to activities in direct opposition to guidelines issued by health officials in the US and around the world.
Many said their employers don't have paid sick leave policies allowing them to stay home if they suspect they've been exposed to the virus, meaning they are left to choose between their paychecks and their safety. This dilemma is further complicated for some by their employers' failure to supply critical cleaning supplies.
These employees fear going into work, but they also fear being told not to go into work, because their companies have no legal obligation to pay them anything if they're not at their stations.
Are you a retail employee still working during the coronavirus outbreak? We'd love to hear your story. Reach out at albert.samaha@buzzfeed.com.
"We are terrified," said an employee at Spencer's, who, like others interviewed for this story, requested that his name and location remain anonymous for fear of getting fired. "We are being forced to come risk our lives to sell sex toys and party supplies."
Some retailers, such as Apple, Nike, and Urban Outfitters, have voluntarily closed their stores. Ikea, H&M, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, and G-Star RAW were among the companies that announced full closures by Wednesday morning, as more cities across the country, including San Francisco and New York, implemented stricter lockdowns on nonessential businesses.
"Our approach has been to follow the recommendations of the CDC and local authorities," Ikea said in a statement, explaining the decision to keep stores open through Tuesday. "The situation is continuing to evolve hour by hour, state by state. There is no 'one size solution' fits all, which is why we were evaluating and taking decisions based on the local situation and in close cooperation with local authorities." G-Star RAW has not responded to a request for comment.
But the closing of some stores may have created business opportunities for those still open. Spencer's released its latest batch of coupons the same day its main competitor, Hot Topic, announced it was closing all stores. At GameStop, one store manager said, "We've had the best sales days we've seen in months," thanks to the influx of customers in search of entertainment to last through a period of indoor living with no known end date.
Coupons for Spencer's, sent out Monday and Tuesday.
For employees, however, more customers means more possible ways to catch and spread the virus. "I can't clean anything in my store," the GameStop manager said. "I can't ensure my team isn't carrying it right now. I can't guarantee I won't accidentally contribute to some of my favorite regulars, who are highly susceptible, and end up making them sick."
After BuzzFeed News contacted Spencer's for this story, a spokesperson replied that the company was shutting down all stores starting Wednesday at 7 p.m., through March 28, and would continue to pay its employees.
On Thursday, after this story was published, GameStop issued a statement to BuzzFeed News listing new "social distancing practices in our stores" intended to minimize exposure for workers and customers. The protocols include "in-store line management practices that create a 6-foot parameter between customers in checkout lines," "door service to allow customers to skip the line and pick up their purchases at the front door," and "suspending temporarily our video game and consumer electronics trade-in practices until Sunday, March 29th."
Several retail workers expressed guilt at their role in drawing people into stores at a moment when more and more people see the necessity of social distancing. "I see a lot of elderly people walk the mall in the morning," said one employee at a Sunglass Hut, surrounded by many closed shops in a popular mall in Minnesota. "They wouldn't be coming in if none of the stores were open."
After BuzzFeed News contacted Sunglass Hut for this story, a spokesperson said that the company will be closing all of its branches in North America by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
There's a lot we still don't know about the coronavirus outbreak. Our newsletter, Outbreak Today, will do its best to put everything we do know in one place — you can sign up here. Do you have questions you want answered? You can always get in touch. And if you're someone who is seeing the impact of this firsthand, we'd also love to hear from you (you can reach out to us via one of our tip line channels).
Other companies, including Forever 21, Michaels, Barnes & Noble, Godiva, Dillard's, Zumiez, Burlington, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Guitar Center, JOANN, Marshalls, Cabela's, and Best Buy, have yet to act, as of the time this story was published.
"The store is still busy which is insane," said a Michaels employee. "A big chunk of our shoppers are elderly or people with children."
One Forever 21 employee said that their branch remains open even as 70% of the stores in the mall they're in have already closed down.
"We have no hand sanitizer, no gloves, half a bottle of Lysol is all that's left," the Forever 21 employee said. "As a cashier, I am forced to just not touch anything until I go to the second floor to wash my hands, and pray I don't bring something home after touching money and objects all day." Forever 21 did not respond to a request for comment.
A Godiva employee in Illinois said that when they asked managers why the store remained open, "Their response was that since we're an outdoor mall the germs don't apply to us and that the mortality rate is too low to concern them … They're telling us to continue pushing sales, discounts and to bring our conversion up. We've had calls daily to tell us to keep going."
Godiva declined to respond to specific questions, saying only that "the health and well-being of our employees and customers are our highest priority. We are communicating with them now, and will issue a fuller statement later."
On Thursday, a day after this story was published, a Godiva spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the company was "temporarily closing our stores" in North America.
Citing the "increasingly vital technology" they provide to help people connect during this period of lockdown, Best Buy said in a statement that it plans to keep stores open until March 23, at which point it will limit sales to curbside pickup. "We believe it makes sense to keep our stores open in those places where it is allowed and advisable," the statement said. A spokesperson declined to answer specific questions.
Michaels, Barnes & Noble, Dillard's, Burlington, Guitar Center, and Cabela's didn't respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday night, shortly after this story was published, a spokesperson for Zumiez told BuzzFeed News that the company was closing all stores. Meanwhile JOANN announced new protocols for its stores, including curbside pick-up.
Starbucks has justified the decision to stay open by describing itself as an "essential business." While it has limited its service to drive-thru and pickup in most locations, customers still fill the premises while waiting in lines. Employees in about a dozen states who spoke to BuzzFeed News said they believe the company has failed to implement safety protocols recommended by health officials, including keeping people more than 6 feet apart and discouraging customers from coming in unless they had to.
"People are bored, and will show up to get a coffee if it's an option," an employee told BuzzFeed News. "There is no way to handle these transactions while keeping a safe distance from hundreds of customers a day."
A Starbucks worker suffering from a dry cough, another who'd recently returned from an international cruise, another who is immunocompromised, and another experiencing mild symptoms similar to that of a COVID-19 infection all told BuzzFeed News that they were unable to take paid sick leave, despite public assurances, because the company requires proof of a positive test result for the virus or proof that the employee had been directly exposed to someone who'd been diagnosed — both of which are all but impossible to obtain.
A flowchart Starbucks employees were given to determine if they qualify for paid leave.
While Starbucks told employees they would get paid leave if the company shut down their branch, an employee at a location in a mall that was shut down said that the branch's staff was reassigned to another nearby branch.
"It feels like they don't care if we live or die," said the employee who'd been on a cruise. "More than catching coronavirus, I'm terrified I'm spreading it to people without knowing. However, I can't afford to take unpaid time off work."
Starbucks told BuzzFeed News that the company is managing branches on a city-by-city basis, including closing stores in "high–social gathering locations," such as malls and college campuses, and reducing operating hours in communities with high clusters of cases. On March 11, employees over the age of 60, those who are pregnant, and those with health conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and weakened immune systems became eligible for 14 days of paid sick leave; those who exhibit symptoms but have no confirmed exposure to the virus got up to three days of unpaid leave before having to dip into whatever paid sick days and vacation time they had accrued.
"As we all know, the situation with COVID-19 is extremely dynamic and we will continue to review the facts and science and make the proactive decisions necessary to protect our partners, customers and communities," a spokesperson said in a statement, declining to answer questions about sick leave policy.
Gap requires that workers show evidence they'd been directly exposed or tested positive in order to obtain paid sick leave, and its internal messaging forum exploded in recent days with employee demands that the stores close, according to a BuzzFeed News review of the messages. Like many companies, Gap closed stores only in areas where local governments required it, leaving 600 of its 700 branches still operating.
"This is disgusting," one employee wrote. "If corporate employees are encouraged to stay home/can not even access their places of work, why must retail workers continue? So we can sell someone a pair of jeans?"
On Tuesday night, Gap announced it would close all stores for two weeks, starting Thursday.
"We have closed an increasing number of stores over the past few days, working in real-time with government officials to manage this situation," a company spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "We are providing our full time and hourly employees impacted by the store shutdowns with two weeks of pay continuity and benefits and will reassess after that time."
The frustration hasn't been limited to low-wage workers in public-facing jobs. At Charter Communications, Dish Network, JPMorgan Chase, Mutual of America, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council, employees have been required to commute into the office this week unless they can prove they have childcare conflicts or are at high risk.
"During this time, continuing to maintain our operations, while applying the latest CDC guidelines, ensures we provide these vital communications which help flatten the curve and protect the country," Charter Communications said in a statement. "We are reviewing our business and employee continuity plans daily, and will adjust accordingly."
A spokesperson for JPMorgan said, "On Sunday, we instructed employees who have roles that can be performed from home to begin doing so until further notice," adding that the company would be temporary closing 20% of its branches and reducing the number of employees at sites while remaining "open for business in every one of our markets."
A spokesperson for Dish Network said, "We are fully operational and have adjusted to promote social distancing across the organization. Those who are able and equipped to work remotely are now working from home. This has reduced on-site headcount significantly."
At Mutual of America, a retirement services company based in Midtown Manhattan, employees said they were confused as to why they were largely barred from working at home, even though industry competitors, such as BlackRock and KPM, vacated their offices days ago.
Coronavirus In The Workplace: BuzzFeed News looks at how companies and employees are handling the coronavirus pandemic.
The Coronavirus Is Hurting Service, Hourly, And Independent Workers' Finances. Here's Some Basic Financial Advice.
What The Hell Are Bar And Restaurant Workers Supposed To Do For The Next Few Months?
Costco Made Corporate Staff Come To The Office. An Employee Died Of COVID-19. The Office Is Still Open.
The Food Industry Wants The Government To Second Hospitality Workers To Production Lines
This Bus Driver Is Worried He Might Have COVID-19. His Bosses Gave Him A Bottle Of Hand Sanitiser.
"Everything could be done remotely at this point," said one employee. "Everybody's scared and nobody really knows the true extent to all of this." Mutual of America did not respond to a request for comment.
The employee estimated that more than half of the company's 1,000 employees are over the age of 60, and most of the office workers commuted from suburbs on public transportation. Mutual hasn't updated employees on additional precautionary measures since a March 9 message stating, "While the CDC expects to see an increase in the number of confirmed cases reported around the country in the days ahead, the risk of communal spreading remains low."
At the Houston-Galveston Area Council, a public-private association of local agencies, managers resisted employees' calls to lift the organization's prohibition on working remotely. On Monday, as some state governments enforced bans on gatherings of 50 people or more, managers announced that employees were still required to come into the office, informing them by calling a meeting that gathered the staff of around 250 into a room, sitting shoulder to shoulder in rows of chairs.
"I don't think they are taking this seriously at all," one employee told BuzzFeed News. "I honestly think someone in our office will have to be diagnosed. It may even take someone dying." The council did not respond to a request for comment.
By Tuesday, though, heeding the widespread concerns of its staffers, the organization announced that it would allow telecommuting starting Wednesday.
Mar. 19, 2020, at 22:28 PM
This story has been updated to include policy changes that companies have enacted since the story was first published, as well as additional details on sick leave pay for Starbucks employees with high-risk health conditions.
Katie J.M. Baker contributed reporting to this story.
The name of Sunglass Hut was misstated in an earlier version of this story.
Costco Made Corporate Staff Come To The Office. An Employee Died Of COVID-19. The Office Is Still Open. Brianna Sacks · March 18, 2020
Here's Why The Coronavirus Testing In The US Is So Far Behind Ben King · March 18, 2020
People Who Haven't Been Officially Diagnosed With The Coronavirus Are Fueling The Pandemic, Study Says Stephanie M. Lee · March 18, 2020
Albert Samaha
Albert Samaha is a senior culture reporter at BuzzFeed News and author of two books, "Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family's Fate" and "Never Ran, Never Will: Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City." He is based in New York.
Contact Albert Samaha at albert.samaha@buzzfeed.com.


The May 2017 Public Update releases for Office are now available! This month, there are 36 security updates and 28 non-security updates. All of the security and non-security updates are listed in KB article 4020152.


'Occupational Therapists work with people of all ages, helping them to carry out the activities that they need or want to do, to lead healthy and fulfilling lives'.
Our unique philosophy acknowledges the link between what people do and their health and wellbeing.'Occupation' means all the activities a person undertakes, enjoys and values. Our daily occupations help to define our identity and if we are unable to carry these out our health and wellbeing can suffer.
Occupational Therapists provide services to people whose ability to function in daily life has been disrupted by physical or learning disability or injury, developmental problems, the ageing process or mental or emotional illness.
The goal of Occupational Therapy is to assist each individual in achieving an independent, productive and satisfying life-style which incorporates a range of activities and interventions.
Everyday necessities of daily living, such as preparing a meal, or getting dressed, going to school or work.
Make sure that homes, workplaces and public places are accessible for people with specific needs.
Ease the transition back into the home after being hospitalised.
Referrals can be made via GP, Consultant, Nurse/ AHP.


The Pillar Procedure is a minimally invasive palatal implant surgery used for the treatment of snoring and mild to moderate cases of obstructive sleep apnea. Small polyester rods are inserted into the soft palate in order to stiffen it and reduce the relaxation and vibration of tissues, the leading cause of snoring.
Sleep disorders affect an estimated 90 million Americans annually, and habitual snoring is one of the more common complaints. It's a nuisance that robs you and your partner of quality sleep, and may be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that can cause serious health problems if left untreated. Many snoring treatments exist, but their effectiveness varies among patients. Those who can't benefit from medical treatments or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) often find palatal surgery a good alternative.
The Pillar Procedure is a minor surgical procedure generally performed on an outpatient basis with the use of local anesthesia. Three small woven polyester implants are inserted into the muscle that separates the hard and soft palates. The implants, in conjunction with scarring that forms as the tissue heals, provide structural support that reduces the vibration and relaxation of the tissues in the back of the throat responsible for snoring. The entire procedure takes about twenty minutes.
The Pillar Procedure is a safe and effective treatment for snoring, with little risk of complications or side effects. You will be given antibiotics to prevent infection and pain relievers to help with discomfort, but most people are able to resume normal activities within 24 hours. There may be some swelling afterwards, and you might experience a sore throat or have difficulty swallowing, but these symptoms should clear up within a few weeks.


Abstract:Data mining is the procedure for analyzing data from the different perspective and shortening it into helpful information. It can be used to increase income, minimize the costs. Data mining software is one of the analytical tools for analyzing data. It allows users to examine data from many different proportions, classify it, and review the relationships identified. Theoretically, data mining is the process of ruling correlations or patterns among dozens of fields in huge relational databases. Nowadays, organizations are accumulating vast and growing amounts of data in different formats and different databases. A data mining algorithm is a set of calculations which creates a data mining model from data. To build a model, the algorithm first analyzes the data and it looks for the particular type of pattern. These algorithms use the outcome of the analyzed data to define the most favorable parameters for creating the mining model. K-means is the unsupervised learning algorithm and it is an incremental approach to clustering data dynamically adds one cluster center at a time through a deterministic global search procedure. It is a simple and easy way to classify a given data set through a certain number of clusters. The k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm (or k-NN for short) is a non-parametric method used for classification and regression. In k-NN algorithm, neighbors are taken from a set of objects for which the class (for k-NN classification) otherwise the object property value (for k-NN regression) is identified. This can be considered of as the training set for the algorithm, though no explicit training step is necessary..
Keywords: Data - Information – Relationships – Analytical tools – Clustering Algorithm – groups - centroid – Data Frame – distance metrics - Prediction – Euclidean Distance – Neighbour-Dimenions–GetAccuracyfunction.


Applique on Top of Quilting?
Thread: Applique on Top of Quilting?
Has anyone put applique on top of quilting? I got a quilt back from the longarmer, but the outside border still looks "unfinished" to me.
I've only tried fusable applique once. I don't think that would work, but what about needle turn?
Yes, you could do needle turn. You don't have to go all the way through all the fabrics. Just grab the top fabric when you turn under the applique. I've done this before because I made a quilt that needed something more.
Why not? Needle turn applique should work if you can just catch the top layer of fabric. It will be a little trickier to sew them on a finished quilt, maybe work at a table where the quilt's weight is supported but you can do it.
I've done this several times....added leaves on one and hearts on another...I didn't want the appliques quilted and on the heart applique quilt I added a little more batting to make the hearts stand out more.
I am adding wool appliqued daisies to a log cabin quilted top. I did not want any quilting over them or the long armer to have to deal with the flowers. They are huge, about 15 inches across, and will stand out.