This study analyzed data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) to assess the prevalence of lifetime rape among female college students and to examine the association between rape and health-risk behaviors. The NCHRBS used a mail questionnaire to assess health-risk behaviors among a nationally representative sample of undergraduate students. Twenty percent of female students reported ever having been forced to have sexual intercourse, most often during adolescence. When analyses controlled for demographic characteristics, female students who had ever been raped were significantly more likely than those who had not to report a wide range of health-risk behaviors. These results highlight a need to improve rape prevention and treatment programs for female adolescents.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) incorporating electronic ballasts are widely used in lighting. In many cases the ability to dim the lamp is a requirement. Dimming can be achieved by varying the voltage supplied to the inverter or by changing the switching frequency of the inverter. The effect of dimming by both approaches on the power losses in the inverter is studied in this work. The lamp and associated inverter has been modeled in PSPICE, using a behavioral model for the CFL. Predicted losses are in good agreement with experimental data obtained from calorimetry. The model was then used to determine the distribution of losses within the inverter, enabling a comparison of the effects of the two dimming methods to be made.

Railroad tracks are constructed on a layer of ballast overlying the roadbed subgrade. The ballast is a coarse-aggregate-sized, noncohesive, granular material with angular particles and usually with a uniform gradation. In order to evaluate the geotechnical performance of railroad tracks, representative stress-strain-volume change and strength properties of the ballast are needed. Because ballast consists primarily of large [up to 76.2 mm (3-in.)] angular particles, conventional triaxial testing equipment is not appropriate. Therefore a large triaxial cell was designed and constructed. The apparatus used in the static ballast testing, and the sample preparation techniques developed, are presented. Triaxial compression test results on the granite ballast for two different density states are shown. Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters are presented, and the typical stress-strain-volume change behavior is shown. The hyperbolic parameters calculated from the static tests are also shown. The static test results using the new apparatus and sample preparation techniques indicate that railroad ballast possesses many characteristics common to granular materials.

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