Isotropic etching of sacrificial oxide that is adjacent to a trench fill step in an STI wafer can lead to undesired etching away of a sidewall of the trench fill material. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a software-pipelined loop is initialized with a speculative instruction deactivated. Improved deflection members are also disclosed. The inner body and the outer body are configured to define a gap therebetween when coupled to the piping system such that the gap is generally sealed and in communication with the interstitial space. The first device listens during the search state for polling response signals on the selected second channel, the polling response signals responsive to the second polling signal.