An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an image carrier on which a toner image is to be formed, and a sheet support member for conveying a sheet, carrying the toner image thereon, in cooperation with the image carrier. The selection information provided to the selector for selecting the stepper motor torque-related value may be, for example, the size or thickness of material being handled or the number of accumulated sheets for processing. A delay amount setting unit sets an amount of delay in the area to be processed according to a distance from a reference position in the image. Furthermore, a switch toggles the optical sensor sensing direction, enabling the remote control unit of the invention herein to provide for various integrated function mouse applications. The invention also relates to the construction of chimeric genes encoding all or a portion of a plant glycogenin or water stress protein, in sense or antisense orientation, wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of altered levels of a plant glycogenin or water stress protein in a transformed host cell. Embodiments include forming a silicon oxynitride layer on the stressed liner to reduce or eliminate deposition surface pattern sensitivity during gap filling, and in-situ SACVD of silicon oxide gap fill directly on the stressed liner with reduced pattern sensitivity.