Methods and compositions for chromosome-specific staining are provided. The inventive substance can be used as a filtering material or an additive for the mixture of filtering materials, or as a component of filtering composites used for disinfection and purification of liquids, preferably drinking water, or gases. One straw can now be used to drink several different drinks by adjoining two or more cups together thus allow a consumer to have both an ice cream float andor different drinks. The usage degree may be the usage time or the number of times of use up to the present time. The liquid contained by the inner vessel flows from the two-compartment vessel prior to the liquid contained in the outer vessel flowing therefrom. One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method including receiving alert messages at a mobile device where each alert message contains transaction data associated with a transaction conducted with a merchant.