A compact thermoelastic actuator includes at least two identical force pieces and a securing piece, the securing piece having a coefficient of thermal expansion less than the coefficient of thermal expansion of the force pieces. The VC-SGSN consists of the combination of a voice service box and a service GPRS support node. An urging mechanism is adapted for urging the seated portable electronic device toward the interface portion of the docking tray and the interface outlet aperture thereof. A finite-state encoder imposes some user-defined constraint on the transformed data before the data is transferred to the channel. The volume control pad provides a simple and inexpensive means for adjusting the conformance of the socket around the residual limb from an initial swollen condition to a further point in time in which the swelling has diminished. Coke particles are oxidized and gasified in the thermal oxidizer to produce gas and reduced particulate matter.