The combination of geophysical data and geotechnical measurements may greatly improve the quality of buildings under construction in civil engineerin

The spontaneous electrification of marble samples was studied while they were subjected to uniaxial stress. The Pressure Stimulated Current (PSC) technique was applied to measure the charge released from compressed Dionysos marble samples, while they were subjected to cyclic loading. The experimental results demonstrate that, in the linear elastic region of the sample, no PSC is recorded, while beyond the stress limit (s>0.60), observable variations appear, which increase considerably in the vicinity of sample failure, reaching a maximum value just before the failure. The emitted current is reduced on each loading cycle and it has a reciprocal dependence to the normalized Young modulus. The MCD model, applied out of the vicinity of sample failure explains successfully the above findings. The existence of a "memory-like" behavior of the sample, could justify the weakness or absence of electrical earthquake precursors, during an aftershock sequence.

The self- and hetero-diffusion in GaAs is investigated in terms of the cBΩ thermodynamic model, which connects point defect parameters with the bulk elastic and expansion properties. Point defect thermodynamic properties, such as activation enthalpy, activation volume, activation Gibbs free energy, activation entropy and isobaric specific heat of activation, are calculated as a function of temperature for Ga, H and various n- and p-type dopants (Si, Be, Cr, Fe and Zn) diffused in GaAs. The present calculations are in good agreement with the reported experimental results. The pressure dependence of Ga self-diffusion is also investigated and the diffusivities and activation volumes are predicted at different temperatures from ambient pressure up to 10 GPa, above which GaAs is transformed into the orthorhombic structure. The activation volumes of dopants are also estimated at high temperature (1124 K), as a function of pressure.