Introduction: This study focuses on the analysis of Italian Brainrot, a universe of absurd characters created and animated using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), which emerged in mid-January 2025 and achieved unprecedented levels of notoriety, engagement, and virality among Generation Z and Generation Alpha. Methodology: A sample of 300 short TikTok videos was viewed, 30 for each of the 10 most popular characters (including Ballerina Cappuccina, Tralalero Tralal & aacute;, and Tung Tung Tung Sahur). Data on likes, comments, share, and views were collected, and the Engagement Rate was estimated. Both the characters, examined from the aesthetic perspective of the absurd, and user comments were qualitatively described. Results: The main finding is an Engagement Rate above 25% and an emotional connection far stronger than that observed in other viral digital phenomena. Discussion: The exponential productivity of random meanings enabled by GenAI, together with the fascination with the absurd generated by Italian Brainrot, would explain, along with the TikTok algorithm, the high levels of emotional engagement among adolescents and preadolescents, hence the notion of hyperengagement. Conclusions: The Italian Brainrot phenomenon exhibits unprecedented levels of engagement, far exceeding those of previous viral phenomena, ushering in a new era of algorithmic popular culture 100% made by GenAI.
Climate change can significantly increase massive fish escapes from marine aquaculture facilities as coastal extreme events become more frequent and severe. Despite the significant environmental and economic consequences of fish escapes, regulations and management measures remain scarce worldwide, particularly in Mediterranean areas. This research presents a transdisciplinary evaluation of fish escape management measures in Spain by (i) identifying measures to reduce the impact of massive escape events, (ii) analysing how stakeholders prioritise these measures, and (iii) comparing stakeholders' priorities with consumers' perceptions. For this purpose, two surveys were conducted: one targeting stakeholders directly involved in escape management (aquaculture farmers, fisheries sector, researchers, and public administration officers, n = 97), and another targeting fish consumers (n = 807). Using the Unweighted TOPSIS multicriteria method, six mitigation, contingency and restoration measures were evaluated by stakeholders. Both stakeholders and consumers expressed the strongest support for market transparency measures aimed at preventing food fraud, particularly detailed labelling and information systems for fish escape events, as selling escaped farmed fish as wild-caught is not currently subject to compulsory control or regulation. Improving site selection and relocation of facilities, as well as the adoption of the UNE 173202 standard, are also considered as suitable solutions to minimise the risk of massive fish escapes. An effective escape management framework should combine rapid operational response mechanisms with long-term preventive planning that explicitly accounts for the effects of climate change, while ensuring consumer protection.
In this paper, we present the rationale and results of a study conducted with 79 pre-service primary-school teachers on their sensitivities to notice the pedagogic function of naming practices in the language of teaching fractions. Our results are a contribution to noticing research on mathematics teacher education and language. Although participants were not familiar with discussions of the language of teaching mathematics in general and the language of teaching fractions in particular, they engaged in an intervention with a professional task that provided opportunities to notice potential relationships between mathematical naming and the conceptual understanding of fractions. The written answers to questions from the task show attention to mathematical naming practices that may be useful in interactions with students who experience specific learning challenges. Taking decisions about how to name in mathematically relevant ways in the teaching of fractions, nonetheless, seems to be quite complex, or at least not obvious in the participant answers. The teacher education intervention lasted two sessions of two hours each. We therefore recommend a more sustained curricular inclusion of the language of teaching mathematical content in the initial preparation of mathematics teachers.
Despite growing research on insect decline, long-term temporal analyses integrating functional approaches remain scarce. Understanding how functional traits relate to temporal changes in community composition is particularly important for saproxylic communities, which are highly sensitive to forest environmental changes. In this study, we analysed interannual and spatial changes in the taxonomic and functional dimensions of saproxylic beetle and spider communities inhabiting tree hollows across three Mediterranean forest types (riparian ash forest, deciduous oak forest and sclerophyllous oak woodland). Specimens were sampled monthly using emergence traps during two complete years separated by an 11-year period. We assessed variation in species richness, functional diversity (functional richness and divergence), and functional structure. We also explored whether species-level temporal changes in relative abundance were associated with species’ positions in functional trait space. Beetle and spider species richness differed among forest types and between sampling periods, whereas functional richness varied mainly spatially. Trait-associated shifts in species relative contribution were not consistent across taxa or forests. The clearest trait-associated changes in relative abundance were detected in wood-dependent beetles (saprophagous, saproxylophagous and xylophagous) from Quercus pyrenaica forests, where larger and less dispersive species showed lower relative abundance in the second sampling period. In contrast, there was little evidence of consistent trait-mediated changes in spider assemblages over time. Overall, our results indicate that temporal functional responses of saproxylic arthropod communities are context dependent, varying across forest types and trophic guilds and suggest maintaining structurally complex forests and continuous networks of suitable tree hollows to buffer these communities under ongoing environmental change, specially in Q. pyrenaica forests. Implications for conservation The present study remarks the importance of integrating functional and taxonomic approaches to provide a more comprehensive understanding of observed community changes at a spatio-temporal scale, helping us to infer which forests may be more vulnerable under ongoing environmental change.
The control problem for the multivariable and nonlinear dynamics of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and autonomous underwater vessels (AUVs) is treated with the use of a flatness-based control approach which is implemented in successive loops. The state-space model of (i) 3-DOF unmanned surface vessels and (ii) 6-DOF autonomous underwater vessels is separated into two subsystems, which are connected between them in cascading loops. Each one of these subsystems can be viewed independently as a differentially flat system and control about it can be performed with inversion of its dynamics as in the case of input-output linearised flat systems. The state variables of the second subsystem become virtual control inputs for the first subsystem. In turn, exogenous control inputs are applied to the second subsystem. The whole control method is implemented in two successive loops and its global stability properties are also proven through Lyapunov stability analysis. The validity of the control method is confirmed in two case studies: (a) control and trajectories tracking for a 3-DOF unmanned ship, (ii) control of and trajectories tracking for a 6-DOF unmanned submarine.
