Green and sustainable extraction of phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis by temperature-sensitive polymer-based aqueous two-phase system and mechanism study.

In this study, a sustainable and environmentally friendly method was developed for the enrichment and purification of phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis. This was achieved by utilizing a temperature-sensitive polymer, Pluronic F68, in an aqueous two-phase solvent system. The phase behavior of the temperature-sensitive polymer-based biphasic system was evaluated. The extraction conditions were optimized by both single-factor experiments and response surface methodology. Under the optimal conditions, the upper polymer-rich phase was recycled for sustainable phycocyanin extraction, resulting in a grade of 3.23 during the third extraction cycle. Pluronic F68 could be efficiently recovered and reused during the extraction process. The interaction mechanism between Pluronic F68 and phycocyanin was systematically studied using FT-IR and fluorescence analysis. This was further complemented by static and dynamic calculation of molecular motion through molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation, indicating that hydrophobic segment of Pluronic F68 played a key role in the binding process with phycocyanin.

Reciprocal Filial Piety Facilitates Academic Success via Autonomy: Generalizing Findings in Chinese Society to a Global Context.

In cross-cultural psychology it is important to examine the universal (etic) and specific (emic) aspects of culture constructs. Filial piety is a core value of Chinese society that has shown related to psycho-social and academic development. This study was designed to investigate whether these relations revealed in specific cultural settings can be generalized to a global context. Using Chinese junior high school students as participants, Study 1 was intended to analyze the relations between filial piety and academic achievement, and whether autonomy need satisfaction serves as a bridge between them at the students' and classes' level. Study 2 was designed to examine whether these psycho-social and academic effects of filial piety can be applicable to a global context via analyzing two country-level databases [i.e., World Values Survey (WVS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)]. The results of Study 1 showed that reciprocal filial piety was positively associated with academic achievement via the satisfaction of the need for autonomy, the authoritarian filial belief was negatively associated with academic achievement. The results of Study 2 showed that in a global context reciprocal filial belief in a society was related to the endorsement of autonomy, which in turn positively related to students' academic achievement in that society, while authoritarian filial belief did not show such effects. These findings suggest that some psychological constructs established in non-Western settings can also be applied to a global context.