Viral, bacterial, and fungal contamination of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)

Introduction and objective: While the qualitative information about bacterial and fungal pollution of automated teller machine (ATM) surfaces is available in the scientific literature, there are practically no studies precisely quantifying this type of contamination. Regarding viruses, such data in relation to ATM surfaces are not available at all. Material and methods: The quantitative and qualitative control of adeno- and coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (based on qPCR/RT-qPCR and v-qPCR/v-RT-qPCR), bacterial and fungal contaminants (based on morphological and biochemical characteristics followed by PCR/RAPD typing) deposited on internal and external ATM surfaces (swab sampling), as well as present in the air of premises housing the ATM machines (inertial impaction sampling) belonging to the network of one of the largest Polish banks was performed. Results: As the air of premises housing ATMs was relatively clean, the internal (i.e. safe boxes and cash dispenser tracks) and external (i.e. touch screens and keypads) ATM surfaces were heavily polluted, reaching 599 CFU/cm2, 522 CFU/cm2, 17288 gc/cm2 and 2512 gc/cm2 for bacterial, fungal, coronaviral and adenoviral contaminants, respectively. The application of propidium monoazide (PMA) dye pretreatment for v-qPCR/v-RT-qPCR allows detection of the potentially infectious SARS-CoV-2 and adenoviral particulates on ATM surfaces. Conclusions: The packaged banknotes and people involved in their distribution, as well as general population using ATMs, can be the sources of this type of contamination and its potential victims. Highly efficient hygienic measures should be introduced to prevent unwanted pollution of both the distributed means of payment and ATM surfaces, and to avoid subsequent dissemination of microbial contaminants.

The Impact of Avatar Teachers on Student Learning and Engagement in a Virtual Learning Environment for Online STEM Courses

Due to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen a considerable shift to online education. The pandemic prompted many academic institutions to quickly develop virtual courses and improve pre-existing online courses to deal with the drastic increase of online students. However, the process of creating virtual courses remains largely tedious. With technological advancement, institutions can now offer personalized virtual courses for individual students by automating course content creation. Computer-generated course content can be easily customized to meet individual student needs. This study examines the potential problems associated with virtual learning and evaluates the feasibility of employing computer-generated course content. It also analyzes the influence avatar teachers have on student learning and engagement as a first step in determining the impact of computer-generated courses. The study shows that institutions should ensure video lectures are well designed and utilize an appropriate teacher voice. The study reports mixed feedback from an interview study that explores the impact of human and avatar teachers’ physical characteristics on student learning. Some students believed that the avatar teachers were engaging, while some found it distracting. On the other hand, some students did not feel that the teacher’s physical characteristics impacted their learning as long as the course material was delivered well. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Spirometer Based on Vortex Whistle to Monitor Lung Disorders

This paper describes a method to monitor lung disorders such as the sequelae of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) and asthma. A battery-less spirometer sensor element used in microphone-equipped devices such as smartphones was adopted. A vortex whistle was employed to measure the blowing flow rate and pressure. The physical characteristics of the vortex whistle sound frequency, blowing flow rate, blowing pressure, and sound pressure were theoretically clarified. Moreover, the structural conditions necessary to ensure a high performance of the whistle were experimentally derived, and the theoretically derived characteristics were experimentally validated using an actual whistle. The experimental results and theoretically derived characteristics were in agreement, and the sound frequency was noted to be linearly proportional to the flow rate. Furthermore, the sound pressure increased to +40 dB / decade as the frequency increased, and the outlet pressure was proportional to the square of the frequency. On the basis of these results, the signal processing conditions to acquire the information pertaining to the spirometer from the vortex sound were clarified. IEEE

Interactive Effects of Drought and Saline Aerosol Stress on Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Two Ornamental Shrub Species

Effects of drought and aerosol stresses were studied in a factorial experiment based on a Randomized Complete Design with triplicates on two ornamental shrubs. Treatments consisted of four levels of water container (40%, 30%, 20%, and 10% of water volumetric content of the substrate) and, after 30 days from experiment onset, three aerosol treatments (distilled water and 50% and 100% salt sea water concentrations). The trial was contextually replicated on two species: Callistemon citrinus (Curtis) Skeels and Viburnum tinus L. ‘Lucidum’. In both species, increasing drought stress negatively affected dry biomass, leaf area, net photosynthesis, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and relative water content. The added saline aerosol stress induced a further physiological water deficit in plants of both species, with more emphasis on Callistemon. The interaction between the two stress conditions was found to be additive for almost all the physiological parameters, resulting in enhanced damage on plants under stress combination. Total biomass, for effect of combined stresses, ranged from 120.1 to 86.4 g plant−1 in Callistemon and from 122.3 to 94.6 g plant−1 in Viburnum. The net photosynthesis in Callistemon declined by the 70% after 30 days in WC 10% and by the 45% and 53% in WC 20% and WC 10% respectively after 60 days. In Viburnum plants, since the first measurement (7 days), a decrease of net photosynthesis was observed for the more stressed treatments (WC 20% and WC 10%), by 57%. The overall data suggested that Viburnum was more tolerant compared the Callistemon under the experimental conditions studied.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Link between Modernization, Anthropomorphism and Attitude to Wildlife

Anthropogenic pressure has significantly increased in the last decades, often enhancing conflicts at the human–wildlife interface. Therefore, understanding peoples’ value orientations, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is a crucial endeavour to reduce the occurrence of conflicts between humans and wildlife. Previous research in the USA has shown a consistent link between modernization and increased anthropomorphism (i.e., the tendency to attribute human mental or physical characteristics to other entities), leading to positive changes in value orientations, attitudes, and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. In this paper, we aimed to address whether this link is also present in other cultures, by testing participants (N = 741) in five different countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Spain). Our study shows that while the positive link between anthropomorphism, positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards wildlife is universal, the link between modernization and anthropomorphism is culturally mediated. In some countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain), modernization increased anthropomorphism, while in others modernization predicted no differences (Brazil) or even a decrease in anthropomorphism (Mexico), ultimately deteriorating individuals’ attitude and behavioural intentions towards wildlife. These results call for caution when generalizing findings from western industrialized countries to inform conservation policies worldwide.