When Freedom Is Not Free: Investigating the First Amendment\u27s Potential for Providing Protection Against Sexual Profiling in the Public Workplace

This article explores the ways in which bodily expression can constitute symbolic speech that courts should protect pursuant to the First Amendment of the Constitution. In a previous article, I referred to this type of bodily speech as body protest. \u27 Body protest can refer to actions that individuals undertake to assert their autonomy, identity, and freedom from societal restrictions. For women, body protest may be used to challenge gender restrictions and to activate women-centric legal reforms. 2 For example, women may express body protest through dance, dress, or performance arts. These individuals are often sexually profiled because of how they use their bodies. This article analyzes the sexual profiling issues inherent in grooming cases within the context of First Amendment jurisprudence in the public employment sphere and argues that the First Amendment\u27s protection of freedom of expression offers a basis to expand upon personal rights in grooming cases. The goal of this article is to argue that by placing body protest and other expression that occurs in public employment appropriately within the scope of the First Amendment, society can eradicate widespread gender bias in the workplace. Part I of this article discusses why the First Amendment should be strengthened as a cause of action in gender-based grooming cases. Part II presents evidence of sexual profiling in rape cases, which reflect society\u27s attitudes towards women\u27s grooming choices. Parts III and IV analyze sexual profiling in the workplace, the treatment of gender-based grooming policies and sex stereotyping under Title VII, and the utilization of conduct as gender-based expression under the First Amendment. Part V seeks to reconcile sexual profiling claims brought under the First Amendment with Supreme Court jurisprudence from Pickering v. Board of Education, Connick v. Myers, and Garcetti v. Ceballos. And last, Part VI considers the possibility of learning by analogy from the sexual orientation cases

Retroperitoneal abscess with concomitant hepatic portal venous gas and rectal perforation: a rare triad of complications of acute appendicitis. A case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While retroperitoneal abscess is a known complication, hepatic portal venous gas and rectal perforation have not been reported as a concomitant sequelae of acute appendicitis. Here we report a case of a patient with a perforated appendicitis that was associated with these triad of complications.</p> <p>Materials and Methods</p> <p>In addition to report our case, we carefully reviewed the literature in order to detect similar cases and the causes of such rare conditions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Only 26 cases (including our patient) of acute appendicitis complicated by retroperitoneal abscesses have been published in the English literature between 1955 and 2008. There was one case having hepatic portal venous gas, and one further case with a rectal perforation associated with acute appendicitis. All patients with retroperitoneal abscess presented with non specific clinic symptoms that not revealed any suspicion for such a complicated disease. Hence, delayed diagnosis and treatment are not uncommon.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>So far, no patient has been described with such a triad of rare complications related to acute appendicitis. We want to emphasize the insidious onset of retroperitoneal abscess formation, and the need of prompt recognition and adequate treatment to avoid deleterious outcome.</p

Excitons and stacking order in h-BN

The strong excitonic emission at 5.75 eV of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) makes this material one of the most promising candidate for light emitting devices in the far ultraviolet (UV). However, single excitons occur only in perfect monocrystals that are extremely hard to synthesize, while regular h-BN samples present a complex emission spectrum with several additional peaks. The microscopic origin of these additional emissions has not yet been understood. In this work we address this problem using an experimental and theoretical approach that combines nanometric resolved cathodoluminescence, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and state of the art theoretical spectroscopy methods. We demonstrate that emission spectra are strongly inhomogeneus within individual flakes and that additional excitons occur at structural deformations, such as faceted plane folds, that lead to local changes of the h-BN stacking order