The evaluation of building energy consumption is heavily based on building characteristics and thus often deviates from the true consumption. Consequently, user-based estimation of building energy consumption is necessary because the actual consumption is greatly affected by user characteristics and activities. This work aims to examine the variation in energy consumption as a function of user activities within the same building, and to employ an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict user-based energy consumption. The study exploited the actual 24-h schedules of 5240 single-person households and computed the respective energy consumption using EnergyPlus V 8.8.0 software. The calculated values were clustered according to gender, age, occupation, income, educational level, and occupancy period and the difference among them was analyzed. The simulation results showed that for single-person households in Korea, females used more energy than males did, and the difference increased with age. Furthermore, unemployed and low-income individuals consumed more energy whereas consumption was inversely proportional to the educational level. Energy consumption increased with the occupancy period. Based on the simulation results and six user characteristics, the ANN model indicated a correlation between user characteristics and energy usage. This study analyzed the differences in energy usage depending on user activity and characteristics that affect building energy consumption.

Aims:  The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of specific bacterial components of Lactobacillus plantarum KFCC11389P to induce anti‐inflammatory mediators in cell cultures of the murine macrophage cell line, RAW 264·7. Methods and Results:  The RAW 264·7 cells were stimulated with viable bacterial cells (VC), heat‐killed (HK) cells, cell walls (CW) or ultrafiltrates of metabolic products (UF). An increase in the levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α was observed in VC, HK and CW, but this effect was much lower in UF. VC stimulated higher levels of interleukin (IL)‐6 releases as well as nitric oxide production than HK. In contrast, UF and its separated molecule, fraction 4, were much strong IL‐10 inducers. Fraction 4 (8·1 kDa), especially, inhibited the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, IL‐6 (89% decrease) and TNF‐α (55% decrease), in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated murine macrophages. Conclusions:  The results of this study indicate that metabolic products of Lact. plantarum KFCC11389P could influence the immune‐modulating activity via IL‐10, and pretreatment with this specific molecule could inhibit LPS‐induced release of IL‐6 and TNF‐α. Significance and Impact of the Study:  Our findings suggest that the specific molecules of Lact. plantarum KFCC11389P may be useful for the treatment of acute inflammatory responses such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

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