A tip-resistant valve plug includes a valve head, first and second retention legs, and an anti-tip fin. The flow cell includes at least two inlet channels. The MM core is configured with a refractive step-index profile which includes a continuous dip configured to shape an intensity field of the fundamental mode from a Gaussian or dome-shaped field profile to a two-peak-shaped profile and back to the Gaussian filed profile. The program includes a sequence of instructions which can be executed simultaneously. The programmable hardware element is thus configured utilizing a hardware description and implements a hardware implementation of at least a portion of the graphical program. The selected target can be based on cost, capacity, security, compatibility, or other parameters or specifications, which can be user-specified or user-weighted.