A system for conducting on-line auctions of products is disclosed. The end region of the optical waveguide is processed by polishing to taper at an angle of 45 degrees, and an optical modulator is formed on the polished surface. Preferably, the bridge input is selectable to accommodate conditions in which the first oscillator signal is stuck at either a logic 0 or a logic 1. The method further includes, in response to determining that the first communication session is using a retransmission timeout interval that exceeds the maximum allowable retransmission timeout interval, terminating the first communication session, and initiating a second communication session. In yet another aspect the present inventions are directed to techniques andor circuitry to adaptively charge a batterycell using data which is representative of a state of charge of the batterycell andor the data which is representative of an overpotential of the batterycell.