Fable Hospital 3.0 aims to demonstrate the economic return on investment (ROI) of high-performing design strategies towards regenerative healthcare. Building on the legacy of Fable Hospitals 1.0 (2004) and 2.0 (2011), this third iteration seeks to refute the persistent myth that high performance is unaffordable while addressing current healthcare challenges, including financial pressures, workforce burnout, climate resilience and technological integration. Fable Hospital 3.0 is a cost-benefit analysis of a hypothetical 300-bed, 750 000-square-foot community hospital located in 'Anywhere, USA'. The design incorporates more than 20 high-performance and healing strategies, ranging from biophilic design and energy-efficient systems to flexible infrastructure and community integration. Each strategy is evaluated for its construction cost and potential operational benefits. Excluding the cost of the land, the analysis uses conservative cost estimates based on national averages and industry benchmarks, quantifying ROI reductions in medical errors, energy and water consumption, staff turnover, renovation costs and inpatient length of stay, along with improvements in operational resiliency, material first costs and speed to market. The study demonstrates that an estimated additional investment of $25-30 million (approximately 3% of total construction costs) can be recovered within the first 2 years of operation. Key annual savings include: a major contribution of ~$7.25 million from reduced inpatient length of stay, ~$1.0 million from fewer medical errors, ~$1.2 million from improved staff retention, ~$500 000 from maintaining operations during emergencies, ~$250 000 from energy savings, ~$1.5 million from lowered renovation costs, ~$5.4 million from lower material first costs and ~$100 000 from water use reduction. Fable Hospital 3.0 proposes a model for analysing the impact of adopting high-performance design strategies in healthcare and demonstrates that this approach is environmentally and socially responsible and financially wise, aligning with healthcare's mission to promote health and resilience within and beyond hospital walls.
Fables are a form of storytelling that convey moral, social, and philosophical lessons through carefully constructed allegories and metaphorical characters. Often set in imaginary worlds or distant times, they use fictional protagonists and exaggerated circumstances to illuminate contemporary real-world struggles. They invite readers to recognize and critically reflect on enduring patterns of systemic inequities and power dynamics in ways that are both accessible and thought-provoking. Throughout history, fables have been used to critique power structures, expose hidden injustices, and advocate for change. "Unheard Voices from Earth: A Fable from 2184" employs a science fiction allegory to illuminate on how power structures within academic knowledge production perpetuate systemic exclusion. By re-imagining contemporary academic publishing as an intergalactic enterprise, the narrative brings to attention the mechanisms by which dominant paradigms silence marginalized voices.
Direct-current triboelectric nanogenerators (DC-TENGs) attract attention for their high output and low crest factor. However, inefficient spatial layouts create harmful discharge regions, causing internal charge loss. Inspired by Aesop's fable "The Crow and the Pitcher," projection micro stereolithography integrates densely packed dual-channel charge-collecting electrodes into the slider, developing an Aesop's Fables-inspired DC-TENG (AF-TENG) based on extreme spatial compression. This design creates efficient charge-release pathways and achieves a record surface charge density of 14.2 mC m- 2. To eliminate device dimension effects on performance evaluation, a novel metric, volumetric triboelectric charge, is introduced to normalize charge transport efficiency and provide a universal standard for evaluating DC-TENG designs. Comprehensive theoretical and experimental optimizations enable the AF-TENG to achieve 800 V output and a record 224 nC cm- 3 volumetric charge, with a fingertip-sized device lighting 32 2 W LEDs and driving hygrometers and calculators, advancing performance and establishing an evaluation system as a benchmark for future DC-TENGs.
Reading ability within the field of musicality research is multifaceted and has been examined from various perspectives to elucidate the nature and basis of its relationship with musical capacities. In this study, we specifically address expressive reading ability-a dimension that has received relatively little detailed investigation to date-within the broader context of musicality. This research aimed to identify which musical capacities are associated with expressive reading abilities and to examine whether these associations vary depending on whether the intended audience is adults or children. We recruited 67 participants who were assessed on their expressive reading ability by having them read the well-known fable "The North Wind and the Sun." Additionally, participants completed a series of musicality assessments and questionnaires. Results revealed that both adult-directed speech (ADS) and child-directed speech (CDS) were associated with melodic abilities and singing behavior during childhood. Although CDS was also found to be linked with musical engagement (such as training) and rhythmic ability, regression analyses indicated that melodic skills were the strongest predictors for both CDS and ADS. The findings underscore the significant predictive role of melodic competence in engaging fable presentation. Melodic competence correlated with rater-assessed listener engagement, potentially reflecting shared underlying processes such as attention, tension, and memory.
This paper the effects of a technology-driven increase in crop and livestock productivity on key agricultural, land-use, and environmental indicators in Greece, using the FABLE (Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land Use, and Energy) Calculator. Through empirical evidence and sophisticated modelling techniques, we analyze the intricate interplay between agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. Our scenario-based projections show that higher agricultural productivity substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through lower livestock emissions, diminished pressure on pastureland, and increased emission withdrawals from land-use changes. Enhancing productivity in the livestock and crop sector reduces GHG emissions from agriculture by 29% until 2030 and 62% until 2050, compared to a business-as-usual scenario. The result is amplified when we embed the productivity surge in a holistic transformational strategy following Greece's national commitment including a shift to healthy dietary consumption. Moreover, costs decline markedly, by almost 50% in the long run, driven mainly by the reduction in pesticide use. In addition to its empirical findings, this paper delineates policy recommendations to support cutting-edge technologies within the Greek agricultural sector, focusing on horizontal and vertical measures. We highlight key precision agriculture technologies that align with current trends in Greece, particularly in the areas of drone applications, advanced sensors, and variable rate technology, alongside innovations in precision livestock management. Overall, our findings demonstrate that boosting agricultural productivity can generate a double dividend-lower emissions and enhanced competitiveness-particularly when supported by holistic policy measures.
Discussions related to the diagnosis and management of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders (TMDs) have always been interesting, and at times controversial, since they involve combinations of dental, medical, and surgical etiological theories and management strategies. Amongst the various recommendations that emerged over the years was that any dental and surgical procedures that are primarily focused on mandible repositioning and irreversible changes to dental occlusion should be avoided. This statement has important implications for appraising the validity of physiopathology concepts and treatment proposals centered around the evaluation of TMJ disc position, since they also generally lead to performing irreversible procedures. A review of the pertinent TMJ literature related to the articular disc position and its association with TMD symptoms was carried out by the authors. For many practitioners, the position of the TMJ disc has been regarded as a primary cause of TMJ pain and dysfunction. For decades, incoordination between the TMJ disc, the condylar head and the articular eminence was indeed considered the main factor for the etiology of intracapsular TMD symptoms and consequently an important target for therapy. However, research has shown that synovitis is the more important variable in dealing with those conditions. In this commentary, the biological rationale to consider synovitis, rather than disc position, as the linchpin for clinical symptoms is presented in detail. Hopefully, this might contribute to putting the elusive butterfly characteristics of this topic finally to rest.
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An increasing number of parents opt not to place a cap on their newborn immediately after birth, a trend influenced by information circulating online and on social media. We describe a term neonate who, following a home birth without a cap, was admitted with hypothermia and hypoglycemia. This presentation illustrates the risk of inadequate postnatal thermoregulation in the home setting. In the discussion, we appraise common arguments against neonatal caps, including alleged interference with early bonding or oxytocin release, using current evidence. We found no scientific evidence to support these claims. By contrast, neonatal hypothermia is consistently linked to substantial morbidity and mortality. We conclude that use of a cap, particularly in less controlled environments such as out-of-hospital births, is a simple, low-cost, and effective measure to prevent heat loss. Clinicians should counsel parents proactively about maintaining the warm chain after delivery and about the risks of forgoing a cap.
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In this chapter, I use methods drawn from literary analysis to bear on artificial scarcity and explore how literary and legal storytelling engages in scarcity mongering. I find three particular narrative strategies calculated to compel a conclusion in favor of propertization: the spectacle of need, the diversionary tactic, and the rallying cry. First, I unpack the spectacle of need and its diversionary aspects through several literary accounts of scarcity and starvation. I juxtapose Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist," a story explicitly centered on a wasting body, with J.M. Coetzee's The Life and Times of Michael K. Second, to explore how scarcity fables offer diversionary tactics that redirect attention away from actual scarcity, I consider NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. NFTs reflect the arbitrary value scarcity can produce, especially when artificially generated. Yet NFTs offer a spectacle of need that distracts from actual scarcity, riding a wave of expansionist property logic that suggests that more ownership is the answer. Third, to consider the scarcity fable's propertarian rallying cry, I offer an extended close reading of a copyright dispute, Leonard v. Stemtech, involving a pair of microscopic stem cell photographs deemed so scarce they were valued at 100 times their past licensing history. Leonard illustrates how a scarcity fable may look in the context of intellectual property ("IP"). The nature of this chapter is necessarily conceptual and speculative, designed to raise questions rather than attempting conclusively to answer them. Through juxtaposition of literary accounts and one legal case study, fables of scarcity emerge as a genre whose very appearance in certain contexts ought to give scholars and policymakers pause. In copyright litigation, in which expansionist property narratives may be especially harmful to the public domain and subsequent creators, scarcity fables may be made to provide apparent support for potentially dangerous changes. Identifying scarcity fables as such when they appear in copyright cases could trigger review of the asserted scarcity and a more searching inquiry into whether the proposed solution could worsen actual scarcity.
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Trait self-control is highly valued, often equated with moral righteousness and associated with numerous positive life outcomes. This paper challenges the conventional conflation of trait self-control and state self-control. We suggest that while trait self-control is consistently linked to success, state self-control is not the causal mechanism driving these benefits. Trait self-control, sometimes also referred to as conscientiousness, grit, and the ability to delay gratification, predicts better health, wealth, and academic achievement. Conventional wisdom has it that people high in trait self-control reap all these benefits because they engage in more state self-control, defined as the momentary act of resolving conflict between goals and fleeting desires. Despite its intuitive appeal, there are problems with extolling state self-control because of our love for trait self-control. First, empirical evidence suggests that individuals high in trait self-control do not engage in more state self-control but engage it less. Second, changes to state self-control do not reliably and sustainably improve people's outcomes, as least in the long-term. And third, despite the possibility of dramatic improvements in trait self-control, these improvements are often short lived, with people returning to their baseline trait level over longer time horizons. The roots of this problem are numerous: Imprecise and inaccurate naming of our constructs that lead to construct drift and contamination; ignoring the numerous other facets of conscientiousness like orderliness or industriousness; and not appreciating that traits are sometimes not reducible to states. We suggest that the celebrated benefits of trait self-control arise from mechanisms beyond state self-control and highlight the need for a broader conceptualization of self-control in psychological research and practical interventions.
Both tumors and intratumoral bacteria exhibit iron addiction, a shared metabolic dependency that drives their proliferation. Here, inspired by the ancient Chinese fable "The Snipe and the Clam Grapple While the Fisherman Profits", a nano-chelator, copper-deferiprone (Cu-DFP), is designed and synthesized to deplete iron ions by metal chelation therapy in the tumor microenvironment, thereby "sowing discord" between tumors and intratumoral bacteria and subsequently inducing cuproptosis in both. Specifically, capitalizing on the high iron stores in both tumor cells and intratumoral bacteria, coupled with the superior iron-chelating capability of DFP, Cu-DFP effectively hijacks iron ions from these cellular reservoirs while concurrently liberating substantial amounts of copper ions (Cu2+). Iron depletion not only exacerbates the antagonistic rivalry between tumors and bacteria but also disrupts their defense mechanisms against external stressors. Moreover, the released Cu2+ leads to excessive intracellular copper accumulation, triggering cuproptosis in both. The dying tumor cells and bacteria then release damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), respectively, promoting dendritic cells (DCs) maturation and activating antitumor immune responses. By harnessing the iron-mediated metabolic competition to potentiate cuproptosis, this therapeutic strategy presents an innovative method for addressing intratumoral microbiota in oncology.
Tumultuous Fable 5 takedown spurs fears for open research.
We analyze the novel transactional card expenditure data for Germany and Austria provided by Fable Data. We describe key features of the data in terms of the coverage of expenditure items, payment channels, and the distribution of expenditures across regions and time. We highlight strengths and limitations of the data, comparing them to representative but more consolidated lower-frequency information from external data sources. We find very similar expenditure patterns in Germany and Austria. We illustrate the granular, higher-frequency information across expenditure items and locations, analyzing weekday spending patterns and the evolution of consumption expenditures during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Literary translation has recently gained attention as a distinct and complex task in machine translation research, yet translation by small open models remains an open problem, particularly for low-resource languages such as Romanian. We introduce the TinyFabulist Translation Framework (TF2), a unified framework for dataset creation, fine-tuning, and evaluation in English → Romanian literary translation. Building on DS-TF1-EN-3M, the largest collection of synthetic English fables to date, our pipeline first generates 15k high-quality Romanian references from the TF1 pool using a high-performing large language model (LLM). We then apply a two-stage fine-tuning process to a 12B-parameter open-weight model: (i) instruction tuning to capture genre-specific narrative style, and (ii) adapter compression for efficient deployment. Evaluation combines a five-dimension LLM-based rubric (accuracy, fluency, coherence, style, cultural adaptation) as the primary comparative framework, alongside corpus-level Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) reported as a secondary reference-based consistency metric. Our fine-tuned model (TF2-12B) achieves strong fluency and adequacy, narrowing the gap to top-performing proprietary models under automated and human-anchored evaluation, while being open, accessible, and significantly more cost-effective. We publicly release the fine-tuned model and two large-scale synthetic parallel datasets (DS-TF2-EN-RO-3M and DS-TF2-EN-RO-15K), along with all scripts and evaluation prompts. TF2 provides an end-to-end, reproducible pipeline for research on cost-efficient translation, cross-lingual narrative generation, and the broad adoption of open models for culturally significant literary content in low-resource settings.
Singing integrates musical, linguistic, and creative abilities. This study examined how musical aptitude, linguistic skills, and domain-general creativity jointly predict both standard and creative forms of singing. One hundred and eleven adults completed a standardized battery assessing beat perception (CA-BAT), melodic discrimination (MDT), mistuning perception (MPT), musical self-assessment scales, musical engagement, musical socialisation, and creative task-solving competence. Linguistic expressivity was measured through expressive reading of the fable The North Wind and the Sun, and linguistic adaptability through spontaneous speech imitation in Tagalog and Mandarin, both rated by native speakers. Participants performed two singing tasks-standard and creative renditions of Happy Birthday-evaluated by expert musicians for accuracy and creativity. Stepwise multiple regressions revealed two distinct predictor constellations. Standard singing was best explained by musical engagement, expressive reading, and composite musical ability. Creative singing, by contrast, was predicted by spontaneous speech imitation, expressive reading, and creative problem-solving competence when musical predictors were excluded. These findings indicate that vocal creativity relies on flexible auditory-motor coupling, prosodic expressivity, and cognitive flexibility, rather than musical skill alone. The results highlight the integrative nature of singing as a multimodal form of vocal creativity emerging from interactions among musical, linguistic, and cognitive systems.
In the age of information abundance, social and psychological sciences face a profound challenge: interpreting and discussing values, meanings, and knowledge that lie beyond data. This paper proposes an epistemic framework termed the absurdist approach to unveiling possible paradoxical thinking, grounded in the principles of Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) and enriched by self-reflection through imaginative literary and philosophical paradoxes that are exemplified by Wild Wise Weird-a collection of fables that intertwine innovative storytelling with contemporary sensibilities, offering both moral insight and moments of self-reflection. Specifically, Wild Wise Weird illustrates, in minimalist doses of self-reflective humor, how events of negligible probability can nonetheless possess deep significance, thereby complementing GITT's explanatory mechanisms by completing the cognitive cycle of interpretation and reflection. Through this synthesis, the absurdist approach encourages intellectual humility in constructing arguments and interpretations, prompting scholars to look beyond data and statistical findings toward the epistemic depths of human reasoning. Ultimately, this combination represents an epistemological application that strengthens methodological practice. It enhances the analytical power of both quantitative and qualitative research while mitigating the risks of overgeneralization-yet still recognizing and valuing low-probability patterns that often carry profound insight across disciplines, including psychology, sociology, healthcare, environmental studies, politics, and economics. • The paper proposes a thinking method that integrates the theoretical reasoning power of GITT with counter-assumptive propositions found in literary and philosophical paradoxes, exemplified by Wild Wise Weird. • This combination enables deeper exploration of humanistic values and the recognition of low-probability patterns often overlooked in socio-psychological sciences. • As an epistemological approach, it enhances both quantitative and qualitative research by expanding interpretive capacity while reducing the risks of overgeneralization.