Apparatuses and methods used for actuating downhole tools in which a ball is dropped from a surface of a wellbore until it contacts a ball seat of a downhole tool. A preferred control state and a candidate control state for an objective function are determined. The buffer is configured for insertion between the femur and tibia so as to at least partially prevent the bones from contacting each other, which reduces the pain and discomfort associated with a loss of articular cartilage. For at least one other time slot of the channel, non-voice data is specified such that the channel includes both comfort noise and other non-voice data during the period of silence. The mesh layer, containment layer, and filler are connected to form a chamber to selectively expand upon receipt of a quantity of fluid between the containment layer and the filler. The generally-broadcast message may also be disseminated on the basis of specified user preferences.