ce of the bean. A contextual
 reference for a bean are valid only for a certain period of time. The
 application should not invoke a method of an invalid reference.
 </p>

 <p>
 The validity of a contextual reference for a bean depends upon
 whether the scope of the bean is a normal scope or a pseudo-scope:
 </p>

 <ul>
 <li>Any reference to a bean with a normal scope is valid as long as
 the application maintains a hard reference to it. However, it may
 only be invoked when the context associated with the 