A hydrous silica gel is dehydrated by freezing, thawing, and removing water separated by thawing, thereby yielding silica particles. The transmission includes four planetary gear sets having five torque-transmitting mechanisms, three fixed interconnections and a grounded member. The receiver may be configured to receive a command and generate a stimulus corresponding to the command. The communication bus is controlled by a protocol for data interchange requiring data interchange from any device on the communication bus to be controlled by a single processing system.