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This paper presents continuous monitoring results of an instrumented embankment behaviour built on compressible soil. In order to better understand of the embankment behaviour and its foundation, geotechnical investigations, measurements of the monitoring data, interstitial overpressure evolution as well as numerical modelling with soft soil model are analysed. The findings highlight various factors resulting in the failure of the infrastructure. The loading program has proven to be incompatible, which subsequently resulted in an excess of pore pressures. The numerical modelling results have illustrated clearly the behaviour of the embankment particularly, the horizontal displacements and the interstitial overpressure.

Thick‐film technology to implement passive elements, network and hybrid circuits has been widely used for four decades and its importance is still growing. While on one hand the technology has been improved to meet the requirements for more sophisticated circuits, on the other hand a better knowledge of its outstanding properties has promoted its application to a certain number of sometimes exotic devices, many of which are in the sensor and actuator area. This paper presents examples of a variety of applications to illustrate what thick film technology can offer outside the familiar area, and to stimulate the imagination of scientists towards possible new applications.

This study aims to examine the electromigration processes resulting from thermal overloads of semiconductor devices. While in operation, parts of such devices can heat up to 330°C for a short period, resulting in the emergence of molten zones and the devices’ inevitable degradation. Therefore, this study examines the mechanisms behind the formation and migration of silver-based molten zones in bulk germanium and on its surface.

Experimental data concerning the correlation between the migration velocities of the inclusions and their sizes are obtained.

By comparing these experimental data with known electromigration models, it is concluded that inclusions move through the mechanism of melting and crystallization. The dynamics of Ge–Ag zones in the volume of a germanium crystal are compared to those on its surface and accelerated electromigration on the surface of the crystal is observed. This increased migration velocity is shown to be associated with additional contributions of the electrocapillary component.

The results of this study can be used to calculate the operating modes of semiconductor power devices under intense heat loading.