Design of a Tissue Ring Contractile Force Measurement Device

A potential application for tissue engineering is the development of functional, three-dimensional vascular constructs to aid in drug discovery. The goal of the project was to create a device that measures the contractile force of vascular ring constructs in response to chemical stimulation to model blood vessel function in vitro. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device consisting of a well and a center base with four extruding microposts was developed. Tissue rings were mounted on the posts and exposed to saline solution with or without potassium. Potassium-mediated smooth muscle contraction caused micropost deflection, which was measured with a stereomicroscope and used to calculate force. This presents a method to quantify the contraction response of tissue ring constructs

Estimating Floodplain Populations and Assessing Flood Risk and Flood Mitigation in Puerto Rico

This project performed floodplain population estimates and created population density maps for the municipalities of Bayamon, Catano, and Guaynabo. Our methods included the use of ArcGIS software to display aerial photographs, Census block data and FIRM data in the form of maps. A short survey was conducted to understand residents' flood experiences and awareness, as well as their trust in a catastrophe modeling system and flood alerts. The survey data were analyzed using SPSS, allowing us to make correlations between flooding experiences and preparedness among floodplain communities. These data will be used by the Planning Board to make population estimates for the rest of Puerto Rico and to better allocate resources for flood mitigation and prevention