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The main purpose of this work is to propose an estimating procedure that building designers can use to choose methods of suppressing chloride ingress, i.e. concrete-cover thickness, concrete-surface coating and concrete mix (water–cement ratio), for reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with a specified durability performance. At first, the authors build equations for estimating airborne chloride concentrations in coastal regions in Taiwan by regressing measurement data. Then, an analytical model incorporates these data into a deterioration model for chloride-induced corrosion and to estimate corrosion of reinforcing steel bars. This work also presents a novel computational procedure to calculate the risk of corrosion for reinforcing steel bars embedded in concrete, while considering uncertainties in environmental conditions, material properties and model error. Using risk curves of corrosion, building designers can set an allowable durable reliability to determine the minimal required concrete-cover thickness for RC members. Finally, this work adopts coastal regions in Taiwan as an example to determine the minimum required concrete-cover thicknesses. Furthermore, reliability-based methods of suppressing chloride ingress for RC buildings are also suggested for each division zone of Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungus of Ganoderma is a basidiomycete that possesses a variety of pharmacological effects and has been used in traditional Asian medicine for centuries. Ganoderma formosanum is a native Ganoderma species isolated in Taiwan, and we have previously demonstrated that PS-F2, a polysaccharide fraction purified from the submerged culture broth of G. formosanum, exhibits immunostimulatory properties in macrophages. In this study, we further characterized the adjuvant functions of PS-F2. In vitro, PS-F2 stimulated dendritic cells (DCs) to produce proinflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-12/IL-23 p40. PS-F2 also stimulated DCs to express the maturation markers CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC class II. In a murine splenocyte culture, PS-F2 treatment resulted in elevated expression of T-bet and interferon (IFN)-γ in T lymphocytes. When used as an adjuvant in vivo with the ovalbumin (OVA) antigen, PS-F2 stimulated OVA-specific antibody production and primed IFN-γ production in OVA-specific T lymphocytes. PS-F2-adjuvated immunization also induced OVA-specific CTLs, which protected mice from a challenge with tumor cells expressing OVA. Collectively, our data show that PS-F2 functions as an adjuvant capable of inducing a Th1-polarized adaptive immune response, which would be useful in vaccines against viruses and tumors., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)