Science, institutions, and values

This paper articulates and defends three interconnected claims: firstly, that the debate on the role of values for science misses a crucial dimension, the institutional one; secondly, that institutions occupy the intermediate level between scientific activities and values and that they are to be systematically integrated into the analysis; thirdly, that the appraisal of the institutions of science with respect to values should be undertaken within the premises of a comparative approach rather than an ideal approach. Hence, I defend the view that the issue be framed in reference to the following question: “What kind of institutional rules should be in place in order for the scientific process to unfold in such a way that the values that we deem more important come to the fore?” Addressing this concern is equivalent to conducting a debate on institutions and their role for science

Vitamin B12 production by Citrobacter freundii or Klebsiella pneumoniae during tempeh fermentation and proof of enterotoxin absence by PCR

The influence of some fermentation parameters on vitamin B12 formation by strains of Citrobacter freundii and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from Indonesian tempeh samples during tempeh fermentation was investigated. A decrease in fermentation temperature from 32 to 24 degrees C led to a decrease in vitamin B12 formation. Inoculation of soybeans with different numbers of cells of C. freundii at the beginning of solid-substrate fermentation showed that only the velocity of vitamin formation and not the final amount of vitamin formed depended on the number of cells. The addition of cobalt and 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole increased the vitamin B12 content of tempeh. Nevertheless, levels of incorporation of the two precursors into the vitamin B12 molecule were very low. Neither C. freundii nor K. pneumoniae possessed the genes encoding the enterotoxins Shiga-like toxin SLT IIA, heat-labile enterotoxin LT Ih, and heat-stable enterotoxin ST Ih, as indicated by PCR. This result supports the suggested use of these two strains to form vitamin B12 during tempeh fermentation in Indonesia.</jats:p