The world productions of olive oil reach 2,800,000 ton and 98% of this production is to be found in the Mediterranean basin, where this agricultural system has been developed for thousands of years, characterized by its adaptation to the environment and its empiricism. Several factors have modified the olive production and processing systems in the last decades. The crisis of traditional agricu...

Mass deacidification is the only possibility to preserve large stocks of written cultural heritage in the original form. In the last 4 years of service 350 tons of books and archival material were deacidified in the papersave swiss plant in Wimmis; thus conserved for future generations. Thorough initial experiments showed that the papersave swiss treatment can be operated reproducibly – all doc...

The carbon isotope fractionation associated with nocturnal malic acid synthesis in Kalanchoë daigremontiana and Bryophyllum tubiflorum was calculated from the isotopic composition of carbon-4 of malic acid, after appropriate corrections. In the lowest temperature treatment (17 degrees C nights, 23 degrees C days), the isotope fractionation for both plants is -4 per thousand (that is, malate is ...