import tensorflow as tf

			datasetRoot = config.validation.data.root_path
			data_list_path = os.path.join(datasetRoot,config.validation.data.path)
			n_batch = batch_override or config.validation.n_batch[partial_level]

			# read in datalist and create dataset
			with open(data_list_path) as f:
				data_path_list = [datasetRoot + x[:-1] for x in f.readlines()]
				n_data = len(data_path_list)
			dataset = tf.data.Dataset.from_tensor_slices(data_path_list)
			if shuffle_repeat:
				dataset = dataset.shuffle(n_data).repeat()
			dataset = dataset.map(self.data_map)

			# validation
			validation_dataset = dataset.batch(n_batch).prefetch(4)
			validation_iterator = validation_dataset.make_one_shot_iterator()
