Advanced control strategies are becoming increasinglynecessary in buildings in order to meet and balancerequirements for energy efficiency, demand flexibility,and occupant comfort. Additional development andwidespread adoption of emerging control strategies,however, ultimately require low implementation costs toreduce payback period and verified performance to gaincontrol vendor, building owner, and operator trust. Thisis difficult in an already first-cost driven and risk-averseindustry. Recent innovations in building simulation cansignificantly aid in meeting these requirements andspurring innovation at early stages of development byevaluating performance, comparing state-of-the-art tonew strategies, providing installation experience, andtesting controller implementations. This paper presentsthe development of a simulation framework consisting oftest cases and software platform for the testing ofadvanced control strategies (BOPTEST - BuildingOptimization Performance Test). The objectives andrequirements of the framework, components of a test case,and proposed software platform architecture aredescribed, and the framework is demonstrated with aprototype implementation and example test case.

ENGINEERING, AEROSPACE, Frequency Selective Surface, Filter, Free-space measurement, and Measurement and prototyping

The design, prototyping, and free-space measurement of a 6-GHz Frequency Selective Surface filter is presented. The prototyping resolution of a large (A4 sheet size) Frequency Selective Surface with small loops as elements is checked, as well as the correlation with measurements performed with a 3-D full-wave solver. The test also involved the effect of cascading two different Frequency Selective Surfaces with a viewpoint towards a narrower frequency range, which provided good results.

ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL, Developmental dysplasia of the hip, Orthosis, and Rapid prototyping

Introduction Immobilization in a hip spica cast is required in surgical and nonsurgical treatments for children aged three months to four years diagnosed with developmental dysplasia of the hip. Skin complications are associated with the use of the spica cast in 30% of the cases. This research explores the use of photogrammetry and rapid prototyping for the production of a lighter, shower friendly and hygienic hip orthosis that could replace the hip spica cast. Methods Digitalized data of a plastic dool was used for design and fabrication of a customised hip orthosis following four steps: 1) Digitalization of the external anatomical structure by photogrammetry using a smartphone and open source software; 2) Idealization and 3D modeling of the hip orthosis; 3) Rapid prototyping of a low cost orthosis in polymer polylact acid; 4) Evaluation tests. Results Photogrammetry provided a good 3D reconstruction of the dool's hip and legs. The manufacture method to produce the hip orthosis was accurate in fitting the hip orthosis to the contours of the doll. The orthosis could be easily placed on the doll ensuring mechanical strength to immobilize the region of the hip. Conclusion A new approach and the feasibility of both techniques for hip orthosis fabrication were described. It represents an exciting advance for the development of hip orthosis that could be used in orthopedics. To test the effectiveness of this orthosis for developmental dysplasia of the hip treatment in newborns, material and mechanical tests, design optimization and physical tests with patients should be carried.