Abstract: There is a formulation having improved chemical stability comprising:

Abstract: There is a formulation having improved chemical stability containing: a) from about 1% to about 20% by weight of a combination of lactase and cutting agent where said combination has from 0 to about 4 parts by weight cutting agent for each part by weight lactase; b) from about 1% to about 98% by weight of microcrystalline cellulose; c) from about 0% to about 97% by weight of mannitol; and d) an effective amount of lubricant to aid compression.

Abstract: A preblend for making lactase tablets is prepared containing about 1-99% (preferably about 20-60%) by weight lactase and about 1-99% (preferably about 40-80%) by weight microcrystalline cellulose. Lactase used in the preblend may be in combination with up to about 4 parts (preferably about 0.5-2 parts) by weight cutting agent such as sugars, starches, cellulose, and inorganic salts for each part by weight lactase. About 0.5-4% by weight lubricant such as magnesium stearate may be present in the preblend. A preferred preblend contains about 9.6 weight percent lactase and about 90 weight percent microcrystalline cellulose. Another preferred preblend contains about 9.6 weight percent lactase, about 30.0 weight percent microcrystalline cellulose and about 59.4 weight percent mannitol. Each preblend may also contain magnesium stearate. A preferred lactase is from Aspergillus oryzae and the microcrystalline cellulose preferably has an average particle size of about 20-200 .mu.m.

Abstract: A macroscopically perforated porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene sheet material having a microstructure of nodes interconnected by fibrils wherein the perforations have a minimum diameter of about 0.1 mm and wherein the orientation of a fibril varies as a function of the proximity of a fibril to the edge of a perforation. The length of the fibrils may also vary as a function of the proximity of a fibril to the edge of a perforation. The sheet material may alternatively be provided in a tubular form.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method and apparatus for diagnosing faulty cylinders in internal combustion engines. A probe produces a signal that is representative of the instantaneous angular velocity of the engine shaft. A Percent Power Contribution (PPC) parameter is computed by substracting the square of the instantaneous angular velocity at the beginning of a cylinder period from the square of the instantaneous angular velocity at the end of that cylinder's period and dividing this difference by the square of the average engine angular velocity. A value of this PPC parameter significantly less than zero indicates a faulty cylinder. An Average Energy Percent parameter (AEP) is computed by dividing the squares of the sampled instantaneous angular velocity values summed over a cylinder period by the number of samples in that period and by the square of the average engine angular velocity. A value of this AEP parameter significantly less than one indicates the previous cylinder in the firing order is faulty.

Abstract: The invention is a method and apparatus for extracting and analyzing features in real time from primary or secondary ignition waveforms, including engine probes, sampling device, and a processor that extracts from the waveform features such as peak firing height, firing line duration, firing line slope, firing line noise, post firing line duration, primary oscillations, and dwell interval duration and compares them against fixed thresholds and running averages to detect anomalies. Anomalies are reported as they occur allowing diagnosis of transient events as well as steady conditions. Waveforms with or without anomalies may be stored and retrieved as needed.

Abstract: A ticket processing system in which a single ticket drive cylinder drives a ticket on a circular ticket guide path past stations for visibly printing and for magnetically encoding or bar encoding the ticket. A passive ticket inverter adjacent the circular ticket guide receives a ticket and guides a first end of the ticket into an inverting space while the drive cylinder rotates the second end of the ticket past the first end and draws the ticket, second end first and inverted, back into the circular ticket guide.

Abstract: A ticket processing terminal includes a cylindrical ticket guide around which tickets are driven by a single drive cylinder which rotates in the ticket guide. An entry port, a feed port, and an exit port all connect to the ticket guide in a spaced relationship around the guide. Raed/write mechanism are placed adjacent the guide at a position which is passed by a ticket entering the guide through the entry or feed port and before the exit port is passed. Tickets are issued by the terminal by providing information to the write mechanism from an external source, feeding a ticket into the guide from either the feed port or the entry port, writing the information on the ticket, reading the printed information for validation, and then diverting the ticket to the exit port before completing a revolution. After being issued, a ticket bearing written information can be processed by the terminal for cancellation.

Abstract: Secure placement of confidential information on tickets distributed in blank is permitted by opaquely overlaying an area of the ticket upon which the information is to be placed in visible form and employing a printing apparatus that prints the visible information on the ticket area through the opaque overlay without leaving any easily-discernible trace in the overlay that reveals the imprinted information. A ticket can be given in blank to a ticket holder. Then, when the ticket holder makes an exchange in order to receive the information, the information can be placed on the ticket, with the opaque overlay concealing the information until selectively removed by the ticket holder.