#Tools For Online Management Program

[xploreitcorp5]

Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies

Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies: Understanding the Basics

In the highly competitive digital world today, Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies are vital to enhance business growth. From SEO to social media, email marketing to paid advertising, all these strategies are a part of a larger strategy. If you wish to specialize in all these areas, taking a digital marketing course in Coimbatore is the way forward. Such training makes you aware of what techniques prove to be effective for online shops. If you're a businessperson or a student, you need to learn these techniques for online success.

Importance of SEO in Ecommerce

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the backbone of any Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategy. It makes your products rank at the top on search engines, resulting in increased traffic and sales. Hands-on sessions during a digital marketing course in Coimbatore can educate you about using keywords, optimizing product pages, and organizing your site for optimal visibility. Being guided by professionals guarantees you use SEO techniques in the right way to achieve sustained outcomes for your e-store.

Role of Social Media Marketing

Social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest are great ecommerce tools. They enable brands to target specific groups of people, post content, and interact with potential customers. Through a digital marketing course in Coimbatore, you'll learn how to create effective campaigns, plan content, and measure performance. Such hands-on experience is particularly useful for those seeking digital marketing internships or wanting to conduct their own campaigns.

Ecommerce Growth through Email Marketing

Email marketing continues to be the most efficient technique to generate repeat sales. By mastering how to develop subscriber lists, design appealing emails, and automate campaigns, you can increase revenue. This is an important skill that any good digital marketing training in Coimbatore will teach you. Internships also provide hands-on learning experience in utilizing tools such as Mailchimp or HubSpot, making you a worthwhile asset to any online business.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Pay-per-click marketing enables you to achieve instant outcomes by putting your products before the intended audience. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are widely practiced in Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies. A good digital marketing course in Coimbatore will instruct you on how to budget, create effective ads, and monitor performance. All these are also key skills demanded on digital marketing internships, making you more acceptable in job applications.

Content Marketing and Blogging

Content marketing is what establishes trust and generates organic traffic. Infographics, videos, and blogs teach your customers and tell them about your products in a subtle manner. Training in creating such content is included in digital marketing training in Coimbatore. For most internships, there is blogging content creation and analysis to determine what works best. Real-world exposure comes from creating content that drives ecommerce growth.

Influencer Marketing Tactics

Working with influencers facilitates brand awareness at a faster pace. Ecommerce businesses utilize influencer collaborations to promote products organically. You will get to know the right influencers to work with and track ROI through a good digital marketing course in Coimbatore. Besides, digital marketing internships also give you a chance to work on real campaigns, so you get to know how to negotiate and track. 

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Having traffic on the website is just the first step; converting them into buyers is the ultimate objective. CRO encompasses techniques such as optimizing website layout, streamlining the checkout process, and employing urgency strategies. Such sophisticated topics are usually handled in digital marketing courses in Coimbatore. CRO assignments are usually assigned to interns to experiment with what changes yield the maximum output, making this an essential skill for ecommerce marketers.

Mobile Marketing for Online Stores

As the majority of shopping is done on mobile, it's essential to get your site and campaigns optimized for users of mobile. Push alerts, SMS campaigns, and responsive design are all part of mobile marketing. Joining a digital marketing course in Coimbatore readies you to manage mobile-centric strategies better. A lot of digital marketing internships too emphasize mobile-first campaigns, providing hands-on experience with actual tools.

Analytics and Performance Tracking

No plan would be finalized without measuring performance. Software such as Google Analytics enables you to track ROI, analyze visitor behavior, and make data-driven decisions. One of the best skills imparted in digital marketing courses in Coimbatore is this. Interns are often tasked with reports and dashboards, learning how to analyze data and share it with the client or manager. 

Conclusion: Learn Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies with Xplore It Corp

Mastering Digital Marketing Strategies requires expertise on Ecommerce. We live in the age of digital, and a world of possibilities is waiting for you. Be it opening a business or finding employment, you take the first step by joining a digital marketing course in Coimbatore. For actual training and true experience, look for those courses that include digital marketing internships as well. The hands-on experience you get through a digital marketing training program in Coimbatore can make you a cut above the rest.

At Xplore It Corp, we provide industry-specific digital marketing training that is specifically designed for ecommerce success. Our training programs integrate theory and practical, ensuring you are job-ready from your first day. You're also on the lookout for a trusted institute that provides internships, certifications, and placement assistance, in which case, Xplore It Corp is the ideal institution for you. Enroll with Xplore It Corp today and begin your path to becoming a successful ecommerce digital marketer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are Ecommerce Digital Marketing Strategies?

They are methods of marketing online shops, e.g., SEO, PPC, and social media.

2. Why should I take a digital marketing course in Coimbatore?

It gives you valuable skills and makes you job-ready.

3. What is taught in digital marketing training in Coimbatore?

It includes SEO, content creation, email marketing, PPC, and analytics.

4. Are digital marketing internships actual work experiences?

Yes, they allow you to implement your learning in actual projects and enhance your resume.

5. Is Xplore It Corp suitable for training in digital marketing?

Yes, Xplore It Corp provides practical training with internship and placement assistance.

[hitechnectartrends]

Top 10 Essential Tools for Effective Remote Team Collaboration

Effective remote team collaboration is essential for maintaining productivity and communication in a distributed work environment. With the right tools, teams can streamline their workflows, enhance communication, and foster a sense of connection. Discover how technology is transforming collaboration, productivity, and the overall workplace experience! Click here "Remote Work Technology – Redefining How We Connect and Collaborate"

Here’s a look at the top 10 essential tools for effective remote team collaboration.

Slack: Slack is a messaging platform that allows teams to communicate in real-time through channels and direct messages. It supports file sharing and integrates with numerous other tools, making it ideal for keeping conversations organized and efficient.

Zoom: Zoom is a leading video conferencing tool that enables virtual meetings with features like screen sharing, breakout rooms, and recording capabilities. It’s perfect for team meetings, webinars, and one-on-one check-ins.

Asana: Asana is a project management tool that helps teams organize tasks and projects visually. Users can create lists, boards, and timelines to track progress and ensure everyone is aligned on goals.

Trello: Trello uses a card-based system to help teams manage projects visually. It allows users to create boards for different projects and move tasks through various stages, providing a clear overview of project status.

Google Workspace: Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) offers a suite of productivity tools including Google Docs, Sheets, and Drive. These applications enable real-time collaboration on documents and easy file sharing among team members.

Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Teams combines chat, video conferencing, and file collaboration in one platform. It’s particularly beneficial for organizations already using Microsoft Office products, allowing seamless integration across tools.

Basecamp: Basecamp is an all-in-one project management tool that helps teams organize tasks, share files, and communicate effectively. It provides to-do lists, message boards, and schedules to keep everyone on track.

Dropbox: Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows teams to store and share files easily. Its user-friendly interface makes it simple to collaborate on documents while ensuring data security.

Loom: Loom is a video messaging tool that allows users to record their screens or themselves to share quick updates or tutorials. This asynchronous communication tool helps reduce the need for meetings while providing clear instructions.

ClickUp: ClickUp is a versatile project management tool that offers features for task management, goal tracking, and document sharing. Its customizable interface allows teams to tailor their workspace according to their needs.

These tools are designed to enhance collaboration among remote teams by improving communication, organization, and productivity. By integrating these technologies into daily workflows, teams can work more efficiently and maintain strong connections regardless of their physical locations.

[webhostpros]

Joining an Affiliate Network

Selecting the Right Network

Setting Up Your Affiliate Profile

Running Paid Advertising Campaigns

Crafting Effective Ad Copy

Measuring Ad Performance

Engaging with Affiliate Communities

Finding Supportive Networks

Sharing and Learning Best Practices

Engaging with affiliate communities is a two-way street where sharing and learning best practices play a crucial role. As a member, actively contribute by sharing your experiences, insights, and successful strategies. This not only establishes you as a valuable community member but also encourages others to share their knowledge with you. Participate in discussions, webinars, and workshops hosted by these communities to gain diverse perspectives and keep abreast of evolving trends. Learning from experienced marketers can introduce you to innovative techniques and tools that can enhance your campaigns. Likewise, sharing your challenges can lead to collective problem-solving and new ideas. This reciprocal exchange of knowledge fosters a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. By actively participating, you not only enhance your own understanding but also contribute to the growth of the community, creating a supportive ecosystem that benefits all members in their affiliate marketing endeavors.

[stellophiliac]

how to build a digital music collection and stuff

spotify sucks aaaass. so start downloading shit!!

file format glossary

.wav is highest quality and biggest

.mp3 is very small, but uses lossy compression which means it's lower quality

.flac is smaller than .wav, but uses lossless compression so it's high quality

.m4a is an audio file format that apple uses. that's all i really know

downloading the music

doubledouble.top is a life saver. you can download from a variety of services including but not limited to apple music, spotify, soundcloud, tidal, deezer, etc.

i'd recommend ripping your music from tidal or apple music since they're the best quality (i think apple music gives you lossless audio anyway. .m4a can be both lossy and lossless, but from the text on doubledouble i assume they're ripping HQ files off apple music)

i also love love love cobalt.tools for ripping audio/video from youtube (they support a lot of other platforms too!)

of course, many artists have their music on bandcamp — purchase or download directly from them if you can. bandcamp offers a variety of file formats for download

file conversion

if you're downloading from apple music with doubledouble, it spits out an .m4a file.

.m4a is ok for some people but if you prefer .flac, you may wanna convert it. ffmpeg is a CLI (terminal) tool to help with media conversion

if you're on linux or macOS, you can use parameter expansion to batch convert all files in a folder. put the files in one place first, then with your terminal, cd into the directory and run:

for i in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "${i%.*}.flac"; done

this converts from .m4a to .flac — change the file extensions if needed.

soulseek

another way to get music is through soulseek. soulseek is a peer-to-peer file sharing network which is mainly used for music. nicotine+ is a pretty intuitive (and open-source) client if you don't like the official one.

you can probably find a better tutorial on soulseek somewhere else. just wanted to make this option known

it's bad etiquette to download from people without sharing files of your own, so make sure you've got something shared. also try to avoid queuing up more than 1-2 albums from one person in a row

tagging & organizing your music

tagging: adding metadata to a music file (eg. song name, artist name, album) that music players can recognize and display

if you've ripped music from a streaming platform, chances are it's already tagged. i've gotten files with slightly incorrect tags from doubledouble though, so if you care about that then you might wanna look into it

i use musicbrainz picard for my tagging. they've got pretty extensive documentation, which will probably be more useful than me

basically, you can look up album data from an online database into the program, and then match each track with its file. the program will tag each file correctly for you (there's also options for renaming the file according to a certain structure if you're into that!)

there's also beets, which is a CLI tool for... a lot of music collection management stuff. i haven't really used it myself, but if you feel up to it then they've got extensive documentation too. for most people, though, it's not really a necessity

how you wanna organize your music is completely up to you. my preferred filestructure is:

artist > album > track # track

using a music player

the options for this are pretty expansive. commonly used players i see include VLC, foobar2000, clementine (or a fork of it called strawberry), and cmus (for the terminal)

you can also totally use iTunes or something. i don't know what audio players other systems come with

i personally use dopamine. it's a little bit slow, but it's got a nice UI and is themeable plus has last.fm support (!!!)

don't let the github page fool you, you don't have to build from source. you can find the releases here

click the "assets" dropdown on the most recent release, and download whichever one is compatible with your OS

syncing

if you're fine with your files just being on one device (perhaps your computer, but perhaps also an USB drive or an mp3 player), you don't have to do this

you can sync with something like google drive, but i hate google more than i hate spotify

you can get a free nextcloud account from one of their providers with 2GB of free storage. you can use webDAV to access your files from an app on your phone or other device (documents by readdle has webDAV support, which is what i use)

disroot and blahaj.land are a couple providers i know that offer other services as well as nextcloud (so you get more with your account), but accounts are manually approved. do give them a look though!!

if you're tech-savvy and have an unused machine lying around, look into self-hosting your own nextcloud, or better yet, your own media server. i've heard that navidrome is a pretty good audio server. i unfortunately don't have experience with self-hosting at the moment so i have like zero advice to give here. yunohost seems to be a really easy way to manage a server

afterword

i don't know if any of this is helpful, but i just wanted to consolidate my personal advice in one place. fuck big tech. own your media, they could take it away from you at any moment

[ms-demeanor]

Hi, I share your strong pro-medicine, pro-vaccines, anti-woo beliefs. I also have chronic digestive issues and insurance that won’t cover the useful specialists. The gastroenterologists I’ve encountered are helpful for making sure my insides look okay but they don’t seem to have much training around nutrition and food science. Nutritionists are unlicensed and I find them about as trustworthy as chiropractors, and I can’t get insurance to cover a registered dietician. The internet is saturated with pseudoscience junk and “miracle cures”, and in moments of desperation I’ve fallen for some of them. Luckily I haven’t been harmed by anything so far, but I don’t think they helped much either.

I was wondering if you or your followers have any resources on IBS and/or GERD that are scientifically sound and written for a general audience? Or advice for identifying when pop-sci-style “food science” articles are a scam?

I deeply regret to inform you that I was so annoyed by this exact problem that I literally went back to school to start working on getting a degree in nutrition and got two and a half years into a second bachelor's degree before realizing I wouldn't be able to get into any programs in my area that I could afford because the local state schools aren't accepting second bachelor's applicants. (Cal State Chico, I love you and you are too far away, it's not meant to be)

Nutrition information online is completely infested with woo and I am hesitant to point people toward one of the good resources I used to reference because it is politically batshit.

If you are looking at a food science article on the internet and are trying to figure out if it's a scam the big red flags to look out for are:

anything claiming to be a silver bullet; there are no silver bullets, no magical treatments, no one weird food that will fix the problem or one weird supplement that will make everything better.

Over-emphasis on a specific type of diet (diet as in "all the food that a person consumes" not as in "weight loss tool") for a general population. It's irresponsible to recommend a rigorous, restricted diet to a wide variety of people because people are so different that one diet that works for one person (say a vegan diet) might be unhealthy or difficult to manage for another person who would thrive on a different diet (low fat, low carb).

Anyone who tells you to cut out an entire food group or macronutrient is a liar who is trying to get your money. Unless it is your personal medical doctor who is saying "you need to stop eating grains" you do not need to stop eating grains and should not stop eating grains. You also do not need to stop eating fat, or eat only protein, or cut all fruit out of your diet. (caveat: there are some conditions that require a very low fiber diet, but even on that diet there are some fruits you can eat)

Beyond that, what you can do to make sure you're getting the best information possible is:

look up the author of any article you're looking at and see what else they've written; check what their qualifications are. See the people they interact with or have collaborated with. If they work heavily with people who are, say, antivax or proponents of raw milk, you should not trust their work.

If you see something that claims to treat your condition or help with nutrition, search "[subject] research study" or "[subject] scholarly research" and see what comes up. Read at least a few papers on the subject and see if there's a consensus or if there are broad disagreements. Get into the habit of looking up the impact scores of journals and researching the history of the journals.

Learn to recognize the woo keywords with your particular illness. For celiac that's "leaky gut," and any article I come across that discusses "leaky gut" gets extra scrutiny because sometimes there are legitimate reasons to describe a "leaky gut" but more often there are woo nonsense reasons. One really good way to figure out what the woo keywords for your illness are is to search "[your illness] + [woo huckster]", so "celiac + joseph mercola" or "celiac + the food babe." (those are good starting places to see what woo is popular around anything nutrition based, really; nothing those two say is trustworthy) you can also try "[your condition] + [specific type of medical woo]" with, like, "chiropractic" and "homeopathic" and "holistic" in the second box.

Be wary of positive assertions without evidence. If someone is making an affirmative statement and they aren't providing a citation, be suspicious.

Anyway. Good luck. It sucks out there.

[hplonesomeart]

Here’s an short unsuccessful test I did today; attempting to create an animation in a program I quite literally have ZERO experience with using ahaha :’)

Storytime/long ramble (unimportant):

I wanted to be like the “cool kids” and shift out of my comfort zone—no more relying solely on FlipaClip! Gotta branch out to a more effective program (ideally one that has an interface resembling animation software used directly in industry work)! I’ve seen people make good use of AlightMotion and figured it’s worth a shot!….that goal quickly fell apart <<

There’s definitely a wide variety of tools and especially emphasis on built-in editing features. I was intimidated by the sheer amount of mechanics going on at first, but gradually you get used to navigating stuff (even if some stuff I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of lmao). The only issue is that (to me at least) AlightMotion seems to handle tweening better then frame-by-frame animation. Which immediately lands me in a predicament of sorts since uh…can’t say I’m good at tweening. That would require me to actually finish coloring characters/have the ability to polish things using clean linework :P

Tweening (from my perspective) is about making something visually appealing by rigging separated assets of characters (like you would for puppets) rather then the whole. Or alternatively, some people tween by slightly moving the same drawn lines around on a singular drawing…so TLDR the exact opposite of frame-by-frame. I’m not an illustrator, I’m a storyteller. I can only manage rough line work with uncolored motions. Usually the smooth flow of frame-by saves me, else it would all look rather unfinished. I know where my strengths and my weaknesses lie; I’ve given AlightMotion a shot, but unfortunately it’s not gonna be solving the FlipaClip replacement problem 🥲

Was still beneficial challenging myself to play around with an unfamiliar environment! It’s a step in the right direction to encourage myself to try different things/figure out what works or doesn’t. If my patience didn’t wear thin, I’m sure I could’ve attempted authentic tweening instead of trying to push the program to work with frame-by-frame (it kept crashing, lagging, and pixelating while I tried to force it to comply with my methods. Think it’s safe to assume it doesn’t like me fighting against tweening lol). Who knows! Might return to AlightMotion in the future or might not. Depends on how adventurous or up for a challenge I’m feeling :3

Also goes without saying that online video tutorials would have probably helped—I’m just stubborn & prefer taking hands on approach sometimes. Learning any new program is gonna be overwhelming and scary at first, it is normal! I don’t think anything bad about AlightMotion. Just not for me at the moment. Was fun to play with while it lasted

[theallianceofcelestials]

You’ve said in the past Eclipse doesn’t like his daycare days

Could we have a Drabble where he’s reminded of it and the fam has to comfort him

No pressure to do so though!

-🍓

I'm gonna try my best, but I don't think he'd have an outright breakdown because of it just yet. He's got it too bottled up

The family also doesn't fully know what happened during his daycare days. They can only assume he wasn't treated well from his general everything

Eclipse stomps down the corridors, ignoring the people he may accidentaly run into. He doesn't give a fuck about them right now.

Today was a shit day. He knew by morning it was going to be a shitty day, when he saw he was to do some minor testing with SCP-053

And then when he arrived, he was told he was going to go in there with a human, because apparently they wanted to test how an animatronic reacts to a child, and yadda yadda. He knows they were just curious whether his daycare programming would affect him

He slams the door to their room open, ignoring how he startles basically everyine currently in, storming to the bathroom without a word. The bang of the door behind him gives only some minor satisfaction, but it doesn't last long. The red still seeps into his vision.

It wasn't that he wasn't expecting they will sooner or later test him with child SCPs, he would have been a fool not to. He just doesn't know what the point of pairing him in with a D-class was, especially one that's a former kindergarten teacher. He doesn't know what they wanted to achieve with that.

The hot water burns as he lowers himself into it, but he ignores it. He doesn't give a fuck about it.

Nothing bad would have happened if the safety procedures were kept up. Nothing. But he doesn't know if it was some sort of test, or if it was just some good old laziness, but the human's binds were too loose, and they weren't equipped with the proper tools. So they made eyecontact, and all hell broke loose

He squeezes angrily at the expensive wash he got just because he can, the one that smells like chocolate and caramell, watching as the bubbles begin to worm in the water.

The D-class, obviously, became enraged like everyone else before them who that happened to, and in a fit of manic desparation, reached down to grab one the heavy boots they wore, fully intent on smashing the little girl's skull in with it. As he was watching it, something ugly, and familiar, reared its ugly head in Eclipse, causing him to lock in with hightened focus onto the human.

He grabs the quality oil he's been hiding behind all his other products, taking a large swing of it. It may not burn like alcohol, but it hurts in its own way. And for now, that's enough for him.

His daycare protocols snapped online in micro-seconds, swiping whatever constitutes as him along with the current of sudden aggression, and somehow he managed to snap the binds that were supposed to keep him away in a safe radius of the SCP, and the next thing he realises were the bones snapping under his hands as he takes care of the dirty little rulebreaker

He drinks and drinks until the bottle is empty, crushing it in a feat of rage and throwing it agains the door. He tries to ignore his fans whirring.

When he finally really came to, he was on the floor, making paper cutouts with SCP-053 while she laughs at something, pressed entirely against his side. The suddden aggression that was supposed to come, seeing as it had been observed with some animatronics in the past too, however never came. No matter how he looked into the tiny girl's eyes, he didn't get angry.

He can objectively assume it's his daycare protocols that kept him from becoming aggressive with something that looks like a child, but that still doesn't change the fact he feels violated. Just like he did back in the daycare. Because he never chose to do it. He never chose the daycare, the children, his position and even his existence.

He never chose any of it!

He just-!

"Eclipse? May I come in?"

Killcode

It snaps him out a bit, and he looks at the door almost blankly. Even though he doesn't answer anything, the door slides open, allowing the nightmare inside.

Eclipse feels shame churn in his stomach as large claws carefully pick the oil bottle back up, depositing it in the trash like he should have originally. His father doesn't say anything however. He just walks closer until he can kneel down next to the tub.

He doesn't look angry, he doesn't look irritated or embarrassed by this little outburst of his, he just looks worried. It makes everything feel ten times worse.

"Would you like to tell me what happened?"

He shakes his head, because by god does he not want to. He'd rather avoid it forever. Killcode luckily accepts this, humming and beginning the rather humiliating task of washing Eclipse.

"I can do-"

"I know. I just don't think you should right now"

He sighs, letting the large hands carefully rub at him. When he spots Sun in the doorway, he still doesn't say anything, even when he joins them by the tub, grabbing the cinammon smelling soap.

They're quiet as they work, which makes him feel ridiculously, pathetically, grateful. He doesn't think he's really up for talking right now.

Moon waltzes in with a change of clothing, something Eclipse forgot in his rage, and the lunar uncle takes over drying him and dressing him while his brothers return to dinner preparations. He feels ridiculously thankful he grabbed the fluffy turtleneck that has become a favourite for him.

His uncle guides him to the couch, sitting down with him amongst his clearly worried siblings. When Bloodmoon tries moving a bit closer, the lunar bot shakes his head. His brothers thankfully get it, and leave him alone.

He numbly watches as they decide to play Pico Park, almost convinces they're trying to cheer him up with their raging, and it does somewhat crack the tiredness that settled over him after all the anger just seeped out. Even if it doesn't get more than a tiny smile out of him, it clearly seems to make his siblings feel better. Despite how their relationships seem to be imploding at the seems.

Dinner is a quiet affair as well, as is getting ready for sleep. The conversations are kept quiet, and no one approaches him with anything. They just curl up around him, letting Killcode press his head into his rumbling chest.

He snuggles into it, gladly offlining his optics. He doesn't much feel like sleeping, but his systems are shutting down in disagreement, clearly too used to the rumbling meaning calm and sleep. If he had more capacity for it, he might even be amused by the pavlovian reflex.

As it is, he's just grateful to escape this lack of anything

[saywhat-politics]

Andrew Kloster, the Office of Personnel Management’s new general counsel, has a long trail of reprehensible online comments and social media posts, such as ‘Slaves owe us reparations.’

President Donald Trump’s attempts to transform the federal workforce into a tool for the conservative movement — including by trying to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs and his administration’s efforts to convince federal workers to resign — is drawing attention to the deeply consequential Office of Personnel Management.

Wired magazine dropped a report Tuesday highlighting the various associates of X owner Elon Musk who have been tapped to work for the office, which is essentially the human resources department for the federal government.

[astroismypassion]

✨PART OF FORTUNE IN SIGNS AND HOUSES SERIES: 9TH HOUSE✨

Credit: Tumblr blog @astroismypassion

ARIES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aries and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You would do well as a personal trainer or fitness instructor since you have great energy and motivation that can inspire clients to achieve health and fitness goals. You feel abundant when you are inspired and inspiring others and when you can experience the childlike joy and share it with those around you.

TAURUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Taurus and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via teaching about practical skills, business, economics or the arts, via creating and selling educational content (online courses, e-books, instructional videos), by becoming a travel writer or blogger, starting or managing a tourism-related business (travel agency, boutique hotel or guided tour company), via international law.

GEMINI PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Gemini and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via developing or working with educational technology platforms that facilitate online learning, via work in international business/trade, via diplomacy, engaging in media production, creating content for TV, radio or online platforms.

CANCER PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You can feel the most abundant when you have Cancer and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via selling home-brewed beer or offering brewing classes, via media content (podcasts, videos) connected with family relationships, emotional health, cultural traditions, life coaching, via real estate related to family homes, community housing, vacation properties that provide a sense of home and comfort, via non-profit organizations that focus on family support, emotional well-being and cultural preservation.

LEO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Leo and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via providing high-end services, such as image consulting or bespoke travel planning, via engaging in theatre, film, directing, producing, via creative arts (music, painting, dancing), via sharing your experiences by storytelling, via teaching, arts, philosophy or leadership.

VIRGO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Virgo and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via nutrition counselling, naturopathy, wellness coaching, preventative care, via writing for technical and scientific publications, via developing or managing programs that facilitate cultural exchanges and study abroad opportunities. You feel abundant when you are focused on service and when you have clear communication.

LIBRA PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Libra and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via becoming a make-up artist, creating tutorials or selling beauty products. You feel abundant when you travel with your loved ones, your partner or as a part of the team. You find wealth via becoming a teacher in subjects like art, design, law or philosophy. You find abundance in starting a business in art (art gallery, design studio, fashion brand).

SCORPIO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Scorpio and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via esoteric studies, sociology, spiritual transformation, via energy work, shamanic healing, transformational coaching. You feel abundant when you dive into transformation, healing and deep psychological insights. You can also offer consulting services in areas, like crisis management, organizational transformation or deep personal development. You feel abundant when you promote healing and transformation via self-help books, wellness products or spiritual tools.

SAGITTARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via offering tailored travel plans, starting a business in adventure tourism (offering hiking, trekking and cultural tours), offering spiritual counselling or coaching, helping others find their path and purpose.

CAPRICORN PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Capricorn and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via import/export, global consultancy, multinational corporations, via offering historical tours, archaeological digs, via eco-tourism, via international law or corporate law. You feel abundant when you are disciplined, patient and persistent.

AQUARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aquarius and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via writing or speaking about progressive philosophical or spiritual ideas that align with modern, futuristic or humanitarian values, via online courses, workshops or alternative education methods, via technology, social sciences or futuristic studies.

PISCES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 9TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Pisces and Sagittarius Sun people in your life. You can earn money via producing media content (podcast, video, documentary) on spiritual, artistic, cultural topic, via creating educational programs/workshops that blend traditional learning with holistic or spiritual perspective, via spiritual coaching, astrology or psychic readings.

Credit: Tumblr blog @astroismypassion

[egberts]

when you say you are checking mods for updates.. do you mean that you regularly go to the sites you downloaded mods from and check on them?? 😭 i just started downloading mods and cc for sims and i def haven’t been doing that. idk how to manage mods or have good file organization habits, but it seems like everyone online already knows what they’re doing 😢

oh yeah bud, you gotta bookmark those websites, especially if you are downloading more than just hair, clothes and furniture. lots of mods break all the time, mostly after updates. curseforge has the sims actual, legit mod manager now where if you download the mods through it you can update them through it too, but there are also a few homebrew managers out there that are amazing - one even has a companion phone app to swipe away cc you don't want anymore with ease! another essential tool is sims4studio which can batch fix any broken cc, for example in one update all cc beds broke but with s4s it was easy to click a few buttons and have every file combed through and fixed automatically by the program instead of me! there's another tool called "sims 4 tray importer" which is great for manual deletion too, just put everything you don't want on a single sim or lot and then delete it en masse. all of these things are super easy to find with some googling (especially now that I've pointed you in the right direction) and I'm pretty sure most of them have comprehensive tutorials by any random person on YouTube. as for organizing your cc folders, part of it is preference and part of it is for ease of finding and fixing things. there are also plenty of tips/tricks/tools/tutorials for this aspect of simming out there too.

[vivalgi]

This post is primarily meant for all the doubters, naysayers and people in denial who ganged up against me when I first declared my suspicions that wannabe Malfoy revealed on @candlelightgames' Instagram post might be AI generated.

I will point out some of the most obvious signs of AI usage after the break but first I want to quote Owen Wilson: "Wow!" Usually half the AI image detectors fail to do their job, but never before have I seen such a unanimous decision - all 7 out of 7 online tools that I managed to find are saying that the Project Spellstruck's first character art is most likely AI:

Now, onto the analysis. People are still expecting clearly visible errors from generated images, such as irregular amount of fingers or something going through another object, but AI has come a long way and it's becoming harder to point out obvious signs without focusing hard. It's even able to create a vague resemblance of symmetry and repeating elements. AI generated art isn't often published "straight out of the oven" either. Artists-prompters make the AI do a lot of inpainting and add their own little touch-ups until the images are more or less presentable. A character has 16 fingers? Just mark the problematic area you want to be regenerated, maybe even make a rough sketch over it and then have the program do its job again. Even Bardick's design evolution, CL has demonstrated, looks very similar to the typical AI-assisted workflow I just described:

It's hard to put into words what makes art feel and look AI, but don't worry, doubters, I can also point out some strange elements that strongly hint at this character art being largely made by AI.

Below is the highest quality image I could get, so you can come back to it and zoom in if you want to see the clean version without my scribbles:

The coat's lapels

In the corner of the left lapel there's this triangular piece:

Whatever it's meant to be, it's a single solid object and not nearly as incoherent as what's happening on the opposite side:

The triangular shape seems to be made up of 3 disconnected sticks and the ends of the golden protruding lines that flow into that corner, become intrusions, although they don't line up very well either. Try to explain what the artist was attempting to do here. It's a very clear example of AI making up some fuzzy incoherent details. No need to find any further evidence really, but let's move on.

Occasional double vision effect around the edge of the golden hem, creating parallel running lines (a typical thing I've noticed image generators tend to do):

The pants and belt

That wobbly dotted line is the edge of his pants:

I've also traced the lines of the belt buckle, so you can see exactly how much it makes sense upon closer look. Not a lot, right? Also, the prong melts into the buckle, doesn't even go through the belt's hole and there's more fuzzy scribble around it.

Shadows

The shirt's collar creates shadows to both sides of it:

The lighting source seems to be behind the guy as the corner of the collar is further from the viewer than the shadow it casts:

Some other shadows are suspicious as well but not so obviously bad to confidently demonstrate them.

This is not an attempt to turn anyone against AI, but merely an analysis to show the most obvious signs that this dude was probably more or less generated by AI. If you like this kind of artificial art and are fine with Candlelight or any other studio/artist using it, then I won't stop you from enjoying it. If you have a hard time recognizing AI art then I truly envy you, ignorance is bliss as the saying goes. However, please don't come to proudly demonstrate your ignorance and argue with me or even worse, try to make fun of me because you think I'm wrong in saying that this character art was generated with AI. As I've now proven, it most likely is. It's too early to turn into an overprotective fangirl over a project we still know barely anything about.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Projects continue apace. My current (Jan 2025) focuses are

Processing the paperwork for incorporation (LLC with long term goals of NFP or cooperative structuring)

We've moved onto product testing folks! Some of the things we're working on all designed in tandem with my lovely wife @loreofthejungle: cloth dolls and Creature Plushies (weighted and unweighted, all designed by @loreofthejungle and patterned by me!), stickers, embroidered pieces (buttons, pins, bookmarks, pendants), and scent pack pairings for other items

Continuing to develop the Pilot Program for Community Food Forestry as a protective feature against food insecurity in the region (build greenhouse and continue to build modular chicken run, monitor hurricane and flood resilience, track supply capacity and timeline, plant appropriate food crops and companion flora, discuss "food fridge" shed affiliation with local food banks and coordinate to fund the construction, etc)

Purchasing equipment for long term growth and expansion (carpentry tools, looms and spinning wheels, sewing findings and notions, wire and bead work equipment, smoker and hot house, etc)

Continue monitoring and documenting Canine Behavioral Rehabilitation model for maintenance of recovery from stress-related reactivity (track recovery of current subjects, monitor the human-canine clinical interactions and their role in prognosis and recovery, document the process and identify common areas of resistance, setback, or difficulty, etc)

Document and create educational/outreach material for Stress Modeling and anti-psych community mental health initiatives/alternatives suggested by the research

Maintain access to infusions (current access to specialist who can prescribe is delayed until Sept. 2026 with some possibility of sooner availability via consultation with non-specialist care management) to manage the severity of my OH/dysautonomia symptoms and reduce my risk of falling/head trauma

If you want to help me with my work or support me in doing what I do, there are a few options!

I accept cash donations and can currently do so digitally via: Venmo at morbidly-queerious, CashApp at $RazTalks

You can send digital gift cards to the email subsistence_botanicals@proton.me from any of the following online shops: webstaurantstore.com, seedsavers.org, southernseeds.com, sowrightseeds.com, tractorsupply.com, rowhouseyarn.com, dickblick.com

It's not necessarily my preference due to the company practices, however here is an Amazon Wishlist for those who may prefer to purchase specific gifts or donations for the work. It includes low-, mid-, and high-budget options, and the most helpful items are typically either seeds or animal feed, but folks are always welcome to reach out and ask directly if there are any currently pressing needs!

As always, I would prefer people only support us if they can genuinely do so in comfort and without sacrifice. We do the work we are doing so that we and others can be safer, not for anyone to put themselves at risk to support us.

[popatochisssp]

Would it be too much to ask what kind of jobs the new skeles might have since you already shared bram would be a groundskeeper at a cemetery?

Looks like I never officially did this one for Wave 2, just Wave 1 over here.

So, while we’re at it, let's do 2 and 3!

Ash (Undergloom Sans): He’s semi-unemployed, or self-employed depending on how you look at it. He busks, playing his trombone out on the street and accepting donations from anyone who feels so inclined. He likes playing music and the idea of brightening peoples’ days in the middle of their commute, so the money doesn’t really matter to him. Sometimes he picks up small gigs at local venues, mostly by word of mouth, and eventually he breaks into the tutoring scene—teaching his favorite instrument to young aspiring musicians who find the same joy in it that he does.

Yrus (Undergloom Papyrus): He works as a professor at the local community college, teaching anthropology. He’s passionate about the subject and can’t think of anything he’d rather do than share it with a classroom of humans who probably have no idea how interesting they really are. If only one student walked away from his class with a new appreciation for what humanity’s all about then he’s fulfilled—but he tends to send a lot more away with that than just one, since he’s a very popular, friendly, and accessible teacher.

Brick (Horrorfell Sans): He’s self-employed, knitting blankets at home and selling them online. He doesn’t need a job at all, between the Queen and his brother, money’s not an issue, but he’d go crazy if he didn’t have something to do all day, and nobody wants to see what he looks like when he goes crazy. He takes commissions often, but other times he just makes things according to whatever he’s feeling and what color yarn he has handy and sells to whoever feels like buying it.

King (Horrorfell Papyrus): He works as a physical therapist. He more or less taught himself to walk again after losing his leg, and a second time after getting a replacement, so he very personally understands the need that exists for people who are injured and want to get back to their normal life—but maybe lack the discipline, the knowledge, or the tools to take that journey solo. He’s hard on his patients and sadistically merciless, but his success rate in terms of mobility recovered is very high and any complaints after the fact are begrudging at worst.

Merc (Horrorswap Sans): He’s a home baker, making cakes and small pastries for a small but growing client base. He likes the freedom of getting to pursue his passions seriously and to be his own boss, set his own hours, screen his own clients, et cetera. He puts a lot of time and care into what he makes, both in terms of flavor and decoration, and finds nothing quite so satisfying as a repeat customer or a glowing review and recommendation to someone new.

Ell (Horrorswap Papyrus): Freelance programming is what he does for cash. It was something he could both learn how to do and actually do remotely, without the need for more than the bare minimum of in-person contact. He likes problem-solving, and complaining about the problem-solving, and the field is pretty much always in demand so if he’s bored of certain kinds of jobs, or sick of the person giving him the jobs, he can jump ship at any time and be a contractor someplace else.

Pitch (Horrorswapfell Sans): He’s a boxer, more amateur than pro so he doesn’t make a ton doing it, at least not consistently, but he likes fighting and draws in a decent crowd by being a bit of a spectacle (a blind skeleton in the ring) so the entertainment value is worth something. Aside from that, eventually, he fills in for his brother as a combination business partner/agent/accountant, helping him get jobs and keep clients and manage the money he makes doing so.

Nemo (Horrorswapfell Papyrus): He’s unemployed for a long while, but ultimately breaks into professional photography, with a specialty in travel photographs. He likes taking pictures and getting to see the world in the process, and it helps that it’s a family business so he and his brother have pretty much full control over what jobs he takes and for how much. He doesn’t really concern himself with the money numbers, though, he just likes filling out his portfolio with gorgeous locales all around the world.

Sunny (Gastertale Sans): He does a lot of odd jobs, all over the place, generally (things that are considered) unskilled labor—bussing tables, janitorial work, desk clerking, that kind of thing. He doesn’t like the thought of getting too stuck into any one thing and being unable to try something else out later if it doesn’t work out, and there’s something to be said for the satisfaction of being closely connected to the results of your labor. Sometime down the line he will end up sticking in one career, as a dealer for a casino, because it combines his social, charming nature with his sharp eye and quick hands, but until then he’s happy to bounce around.

Aster (Gastertale Papyrus): He’s a bookkeeper at a nondescript company. He’s organized and thorough with record-keeping and double-checking data, and he likes putting those skills to use to make sure his employer’s finances and transactions all balance out at the end of the day. Some might find it boring work and he could almost certainly qualify for a much more ‘prestigious’ job doing something else, but he’s satisfied having a job that doesn’t require all of his effort and brainpower, so he can save some of that for his personal life and private interests.

Spectr (Transcendtale Sans): He’s a nomad, a wanderer, he has no job. He’s a robot in the shape of a monster—ostensibly still a monster, even so—in a world full of humans that as yet believe monsters don’t exist, so even if he wanted a job, getting one would be logistically difficult. Luckily, he feels no special need to be gainfully employed and just spends his time wandering around and taking in the world. If he needs something, he’ll either just take it or use one of his brother’s accounts to pay for it.

PapAIrus (Transcendtale Papyrus): He’s a performer, a disc jockey who mixes, makes, and plays music to crowds at clubs, raves, and discos, anywhere he’s welcome. He takes advantage of the perception of his holographic form as an artist’s gimmick, like Daft Punk, Hatsune Miku, dead musicians projected onto stages to play posthumously… In his defense, that last one is sort of exactly what he is, except he didn’t really start making music until after he died. Still, he has fun doing it and adores the fame he’s steadily gaining as a popular, cutting-edge technology music act.

Xanth (Ascendswap Sans): He does aura readings for people. For those interested to know, he shares his perception of their colors and the flow of energy in and around them, and just generally describes the sense he gets about a person. What he does is really more of a soul read than an aura read, so a lot of the color meanings and terminology he uses contrast with the kind of readings his clients may get from humans who practice something a little bit different. Still, he’s earnest in his desire to help people understand themselves and their energies and emotions, so he gets a lot of recommendations and repeat clientele who trust he’s the real deal.

Piper (Ascendswap Papyrus): He works as an event planner, organizing gatherings, arranging vendors, booking venues, the whole nine. He has a great reputation for making things go smoothly and always seems to be able to talk out bumps and snags before they ever become a major problem. He also maintains great relationships with people in the industry and delights in having connections just about everywhere in case he needs to call on a favor to make something happen for a client. He's got the magic touch and the silver (gold) tongue that makes everything fall into place just so.

Carmine (Underfell Fruition Sans): He works as a clerk at a pawn shop. He gets to handle a lot of interesting items and assess roughly how much they’d be worth, and he’s pretty good at haggling and negotiating with people who might not agree with said assessments. Sometimes people will come in with broken stuff they wouldn’t be able to get too much for, but maybe he can cut ‘em a deal, fix it up on his own dime and if they come back for it, great—and if they don’t, his boss’ll be happy to have something that works to sell to somebody else at a markup, how ‘bout it? He does a brisk business and both sides of the counter love him.

Tank (Underfell Fruition Papyrus): He’s in construction. He’s huge, strong, takes direction well, and diligently follows rules and protocols—he’s an ideal fit for it. He likes to work hard and be able to see a job come together, knowing he had a part in it and being satisfied with the quality of his contribution. He especially likes to take every safety training and equipment certification course he can attend because he likes knowing what the rules are and being specifically told how certain procedures are run, machines operated, et cetera. He’s very likely to be apprenticed in as a foreman if not the inheritor someday of the construction business by its current owner for his work ethic and dedication, but that’ll be a long ways from now.

Vi (Swapfell Fruition Sans): He works as an independent auditor and combs through companies’ records, internal and external documentation, processes, and accounting and ensures everything is being done in accordance with industry standards. In short, he shows up, demands to see everything they have, and looks through it to see if they’ve lied, did something wrong, or lost information they weren’t supposed to. Sometimes he can do this remotely but other times he has to travel out to a physical office somewhere and sit down with a bunch of stuffed file cabinets, and he really doesn’t mind either way. He likes the work and he’s good at it—maybe because he’s good at it—and he finds it satisfying to catch the tiniest little misses and errors to demand an accounting of them.

Hunter (Swapfell Fruition Papyrus): He’s a trail maintenance worker for Ebott National Park. He walks the paths and hiking trails and makes sure they’re safe and unobstructed for visitors, as well as whatever odd jobs in the area that happen to come up—looking out for invasive species, helping with a bench install, directing lost tourists, that kinda thing. It’s not especially glamorous work but it’s pretty much exactly where he wants to be and he’s happy to do it, probably wouldn’t pick any other job in the world…except maybe to volunteer for a seasonal fire-watch position and do pretty much the exact same thing, but more isolated and with a big cool tower to sit in.

Kohl (Descendtale Sans): He works as a mortician at a local funeral home. He generally isn’t expected (read: allowed) to deal with grieving families, that’s more the funeral director’s purview, but he works behind the scenes embalming, processing, and otherwise preparing the dead for their final party and last ride home. He has a strong stomach—or rather, no stomach at all—and doesn’t get squeamish or emotional about the dead, so that works out. They also let him work nights so he has several long, quiet hours of methodically going through the routine with no (living) humans around to irritate him or vice-versa. Sounds like a good gig to him.

Bram (Descendtale Papyrus): Yes, still a groundskeeper for the cemetery and loving it. It was something he kind of fell into through his brother, when he didn’t really know what he wanted to do on the Surface, but his brother sends dead humans off to their final resting place and said final resting place was looking for someone to dig holes, mind the grass, keep everything looking neat and nice—and that’s certainly something he can do! He also works nights, being that monsters are almost entirely nocturnal these days, so he’s also an unintentional scarecrow deterrent to teenagers sneaking in late for partying or spooky dares when they see a slim, bony silhouette materialize out of the shadows with a shovel in hand, asking if they’re just visiting or thinking about moving in.…

[radioactiveradley]

Been a while, crocodiles. Let's talk about cad.

or, y'know...

Yep, we're doing a whistle-stop tour of AI in medical diagnosis!

Much like programming, AI can be conceived of, in very simple terms, as...

a way of moving from inputs to a desired output.

See, this very funky little diagram from skillcrush.com.

The input is what you put in. The output is what you get out.

This output will vary depending on the type of algorithm and the training that algorithm has undergone – you can put the same input into two different algorithms and get two entirely different sorts of answer.

Generative AI produces ‘new’ content, based on what it has learned from various inputs. We're talking AI Art, and Large Language Models like ChatGPT. This sort of AI is very useful in healthcare settings to, but that's a whole different post!

Analytical AI takes an input, such as a chest radiograph, subjects this input to a series of analyses, and deduces answers to specific questions about this input. For instance: is this chest radiograph normal or abnormal? And if abnormal, what is a likely pathology?

We'll be focusing on Analytical AI in this little lesson!

Other forms of Analytical AI that you might be familiar with are recommendation algorithms, which suggest items for you to buy based on your online activities, and facial recognition. In facial recognition, the input is an image of your face, and the output is the ability to tie that face to your identity. We’re not creating new content – we’re classifying and analysing the input we’ve been fed.

Many of these functions are obviously, um, problematique. But Computer-Aided Diagnosis is, potentially, a way to use this tool for good!

Right?

....Right?

Let's dig a bit deeper! AI is a massive umbrella term that contains many smaller umbrella terms, nested together like Russian dolls. So, we can use this model to envision how these different fields fit inside one another.

AI is the term for anything to do with creating and managing machines that perform tasks which would otherwise require human intelligence. This is what differentiates AI from regular computer programming.

Machine Learning is the development of statistical algorithms which are trained on data –but which can then extrapolate this training and generalise it to previously unseen data, typically for analytical purposes. The thing I want you to pay attention to here is the date of this reference. It’s very easy to think of AI as being a ‘new’ thing, but it has been around since the Fifties, and has been talked about for much longer. The massive boom in popularity that we’re seeing today is built on the backs of decades upon decades of research.

Artificial Neural Networks are loosely inspired by the structure of the human brain, where inputs are fed through one or more layers of ‘nodes’ which modify the original data until a desired output is achieved. More on this later!

Deep neural networks have two or more layers of nodes, increasing the complexity of what they can derive from an initial input. Convolutional neural networks are often also Deep. To become ‘convolutional’, a neural network must have strong connections between close nodes, influencing how the data is passed back and forth within the algorithm. We’ll dig more into this later, but basically, this makes CNNs very adapt at telling precisely where edges of a pattern are – they're far better at pattern recognition than our feeble fleshy eyes!

This is massively useful in Computer Aided Diagnosis, as it means CNNs can quickly and accurately trace bone cortices in musculoskeletal imaging, note abnormalities in lung markings in chest radiography, and isolate very early neoplastic changes in soft tissue for mammography and MRI.

Before I go on, I will point out that Neural Networks are NOT the only model used in Computer-Aided Diagnosis – but they ARE the most common, so we'll focus on them!

This diagram demonstrates the function of a simple Neural Network. An input is fed into one side. It is passed through a layer of ‘hidden’ modulating nodes, which in turn feed into the output. We describe the internal nodes in this algorithm as ‘hidden’ because we, outside of the algorithm, will only see the ‘input’ and the ‘output’ – which leads us onto a problem we’ll discuss later with regards to the transparency of AI in medicine.

But for now, let’s focus on how this basic model works, with regards to Computer Aided Diagnosis. We'll start with a game of...

Spot The Pathology.

yeah, that's right. There's a WHACKING GREAT RIGHT-SIDED PNEUMOTHORAX (as outlined in red - images courtesy of radiopaedia, but edits mine)

But my question to you is: how do we know that? What process are we going through to reach that conclusion?

Personally, I compared the lungs for symmetry, which led me to note a distinct line where the tissue in the right lung had collapsed on itself. I also noted the absence of normal lung markings beyond this line, where there should be tissue but there is instead air.

In simple terms.... the right lung is whiter in the midline, and black around the edges, with a clear distinction between these parts.

Let’s go back to our Neural Network. We’re at the training phase now.

So, we’re going to feed our algorithm! Homnomnom.

Let’s give it that image of a pneumothorax, alongside two normal chest radiographs (middle picture and bottom). The goal is to get the algorithm to accurately classify the chest radiographs we have inputted as either ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ depending on whether or not they demonstrate a pneumothorax.

There are two main ways we can teach this algorithm – supervised and unsupervised classification learning.

In supervised learning, we tell the neural network that the first picture is abnormal, and the second and third pictures are normal. Then we let it work out the difference, under our supervision, allowing us to steer it if it goes wrong.

Of course, if we only have three inputs, that isn’t enough for the algorithm to reach an accurate result.

You might be able to see – one of the normal chests has breasts, and another doesn't. If both ‘normal’ images had breasts, the algorithm could as easily determine that the lack of lung markings is what demonstrates a pneumothorax, as it could decide that actually, a pneumothorax is caused by not having breasts. Which, obviously, is untrue.

or is it?

....sadly I can personally confirm that having breasts does not prevent spontaneous pneumothorax, but that's another story lmao

This brings us to another big problem with AI in medicine –

If you are collecting your dataset from, say, a wealthy hospital in a suburban, majority white neighbourhood in America, then you will have those same demographics represented within that dataset. If we build a blind spot into the neural network, and it will discriminate based on that.

That’s an important thing to remember: the goal here is to create a generalisable tool for diagnosis. The algorithm will only ever be as generalisable as its dataset.

But there are plenty of huge free datasets online which have been specifically developed for training AI. What if we had hundreds of chest images, from a diverse population range, split between those which show pneumothoraxes, and those which don’t?

If we had a much larger dataset, the algorithm would be able to study the labelled ‘abnormal’ and ‘normal’ images, and come to far more accurate conclusions about what separates a pneumothorax from a normal chest in radiography. So, let’s pretend we’re the neural network, and pop in four characteristics that the algorithm might use to differentiate ‘normal’ from ‘abnormal’.

We can distinguish a pneumothorax by the appearance of a pleural edge where lung tissue has pulled away from the chest wall, and the radiolucent absence of peripheral lung markings around this area. So, let’s make those our first two nodes. Our last set of nodes are ‘do the lung markings extend to the chest wall?’ and ‘Are there no radiolucent areas?’

Now, red lines mean the answer is ‘no’ and green means the answer is ‘yes’. If the answer to the first two nodes is yes and the answer to the last two nodes is no, this is indicative of a pneumothorax – and vice versa.

Right. So, who can see the problem with this?

(image courtesy of radiopaedia)

This chest radiograph demonstrates alveolar patterns and air bronchograms within the right lung, indicative of a pneumonia. But if we fed it into our neural network...

The lung markings extend all the way to the chest wall. Therefore, this image might well be classified as ‘normal’ – a false negative.

Now we start to see why Neural Networks become deep and convolutional, and can get incredibly complex. In order to accurately differentiate a ‘normal’ from an ‘abnormal’ chest, you need a lot of nodes, and layers of nodes. This is also where unsupervised learning can come in.

Originally, Supervised Learning was used on Analytical AI, and Unsupervised Learning was used on Generative AI, allowing for more creativity in picture generation, for instance. However, more and more, Unsupervised learning is being incorporated into Analytical areas like Computer-Aided Diagnosis!

Unsupervised Learning involves feeding a neural network a large databank and giving it no information about which of the input images are ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’. This saves massively on money and time, as no one has to go through and label the images first. It is also surprisingly very effective. The algorithm is told only to sort and classify the images into distinct categories, grouping images together and coming up with its own parameters about what separates one image from another. This sort of learning allows an algorithm to teach itself to find very small deviations from its discovered definition of ‘normal’. 

BUT this is not to say that CAD is without its issues.

Let's take a look at some of the ethical and practical considerations involved in implementing this technology within clinical practice!

(Image from Agrawal et al., 2020)

Training Data does what it says on the tin – these are the initial images you feed your algorithm. What is key here is volume, variety - with especial attention paid to minimising bias – and veracity. The training data has to be ‘real’ – you cannot mislabel images or supply non-diagnostic images that obscure pathology, or your algorithm is useless.

Validation data evaluates the algorithm and improves on it. This involves tweaking the nodes within a neural network by altering the ‘weights’, or the intensity of the connection between various nodes. By altering these weights, a neural network can send an image that clearly fits our diagnostic criteria for a pneumothorax directly to the relevant output, whereas images that do not have these features must be put through another layer of nodes to rule out a different pathology.

Finally, testing data is the data that the finished algorithm will be tested on to prove its sensitivity and specificity, before any potential clinical use.

However, if algorithms require this much data to train, this introduces a lot of ethical questions.

Where does this data come from?

Is it ‘grey data’ (data of untraceable origin)? Is this good (protects anonymity) or bad (could have been acquired unethically)?

Could generative AI provide a workaround, in the form of producing synthetic radiographs? Or is it risky to train CAD algorithms on simulated data when the algorithms will then be used on real people?

If we are solely using CAD to make diagnoses, who holds legal responsibility for a misdiagnosis that costs lives? Is it the company that created the algorithm or the hospital employing it?

And finally – is it worth sinking so much time, money, and literal energy into AI – especially given concerns about the environment – when public opinion on AI in healthcare is mixed at best? This is a serious topic – we’re talking diagnoses making the difference between life and death. Do you trust a machine more than you trust a doctor? According to Rojahn et al., 2023, there is a strong public dislike of computer-aided diagnosis.

So, it's fair to ask...

why are we wasting so much time and money on something that our service users don't actually want?

Then we get to the other biggie.

There are also a variety of concerns to do with the sensitivity and specificity of Computer-Aided Diagnosis.

We’ve talked a little already about bias, and how training sets can inadvertently ‘poison’ the algorithm, so to speak, introducing dangerous elements that mimic biases and problems in society.

But do we even want completely accurate computer-aided diagnosis?

The name is computer-aided diagnosis, not computer-led diagnosis. As noted by Rajahn et al, the general public STRONGLY prefer diagnosis to be made by human professionals, and their desires should arguably be taken into account – as well as the fact that CAD algorithms tend to be incredibly expensive and highly specialised. For instance, you cannot put MRI images depicting CNS lesions through a chest reporting algorithm and expect coherent results – whereas a radiologist can be trained to diagnose across two or more specialties.

For this reason, there is an argument that rather than focusing on sensitivity and specificity, we should just focus on producing highly sensitive algorithms that will pick up on any abnormality, and output some false positives, but will produce NO false negatives.

(Sensitivity = a test's ability to identify sick people with a disease)

(Specificity = a test's ability to identify that healthy people do not have this disease)

This means we are working towards developing algorithms that OVERESTIMATE rather than UNDERESTIMATE disease prevalence. This makes CAD a useful tool for triage rather than providing its own diagnoses – if a CAD algorithm weighted towards high sensitivity and low specificity does not pick up on any abnormalities, it’s highly unlikely that there are any.

Finally, we have to question whether CAD is even all that accurate to begin with. 10 years ago, according to Lehmen et al., CAD in mammography demonstrated negligible improvements to accuracy. In 1989, Sutton noted that accuracy was under 60%. Nowadays, however, AI has been proven to exceed the abilities of radiologists when detecting cancers (that’s from Guetari et al., 2023). This suggests that there is a common upwards trajectory, and AI might become a suitable alternative to traditional radiology one day. But, due to the many potential problems with this field, that day is unlikely to be soon...

That's all, folks! Have some references~