71.   Patricia Shrader, director of regulatory affairs at Becton Dickinson Microbiology Systems, said the company has already responded to the letter.

72.   Other companies are responding.

73.   Ray Loewen remained upbeat despite refusing to say exactly how his company would respond.

74.   Richard L. Scott, chief executive of Columbia, said his company was only responding to demands to curb runaway medical costs.

75.   So he scattered resumes all over the country but hoped a Central Texas company would respond.

76.   Some companies have responded by holding back power rather than face the expense of shipping electricity from state to state.

77.   Some companies have responded by raising minimum investments.

78.   Some companies have responded by shipping an increasing part of their production to lower-wage countries like Poland and the Czech Republic.

79.   Still, some companies are responding to customer complaints.

80.   Speech-recognition software companies are also responding to the needs of the students.