(InterScan normally makes instruments that detect toxic gases in factories).
Isco, based in Lincoln, Neb., makes instruments that analyze chemicals in water and measure flow.
InnerDyne makes instruments that help make the tiny incisions for so-called minimally invasive surgery, which is less traumatic for patients than traditional procedures.
"Why on earth would you gift that to anybody let alone those who make instruments that can be used to kill?" she asked.
The company, which is based in Norwalk, Conn., hired Warburg Dillon Read L.L.C. to advise it and expects to make a decision on the unit, which makes instruments that measure gases, liquids and solids, by early 1999.
Brown & Sharpe, which makes instruments that measure everything from candy molds to disk drives, has been struggling to pay debts after spending heavily on acquisitions, and has been in technical default on some loans since July 1999.
It is intended to make instruments that have been in use and proved to be successful, such as the Marie Curie Fellowships, much easier to apply for.
The UK is preparing for this eventuality by making statutory instruments that will effectively turn existing EU legislation into domestic UK law although this is not a silver bullet.
For one thing, it was made with instruments that included a contraption made of MDF called "the Chopper" and something that sounds like "a computer doing a complicated sum".
However, the conclusions made from instruments that gauge attitudes are only as good as the quality of the measures and the methods used to analyze the data collected.
