A load control systems and methods. The cartridge includes a three dimensional fluid channel, in which a fluid is to be transported, a flexible membrane that spans a plane and is part of an outer surface of the cartridge. The invention also provides reagents that are recombinant mammalian cells containing recombinant expression constructs that express a reporter gene under the transcriptional control of a promoter for a gene that is regulated by retinoids, and methods for using such cells to identify compounds other than retinoids that modulate expression of these cellular genes. The hydraulic system can include many levels of redundancy as applied to its various components, such as pumps, filters and nozzles. Observed metrics for the monitored events are adjusted using the identified overhead compensation values.