A semiconductor wafer on which elements have been formed is diced and a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer is ground by a dicing before grinding method to form discrete semiconductor chips. The respective logical volumes 220 which the plurality of storage apparatuses 10 to comprise are mutually connected. A method andor apparatus for encoding andor decoding an audio signal is also disclosed, in which the encoding apparatus can apply an arbitrary downmix gain to the downmix signal, and can transmit a bit stream containing information as to the applied ADG to the decoding apparatus. The reference air mixes with the gas enriched air to form a mixed air, which is returned to the respiration system. Also disclosed are a system and method for autofocus of an image capture device. This finish is provided exclusively in the metaphyseal portion of the shaft and laterally from the line delineating the maximum antero-posterior dimension of the shaft cross section.