Qui tam actions: best practices for relator's counsel

The False Claims Act empowers the U.S. Government to identify and prosecute fraud. It does so in no small part by engaging qui tam relators who, with their attorneys, are deputized under the Act to help investigate and prosecute these cases. By combining the insight and industry-specific knowledge of the citizenry with the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the government, Congress attempted to facilitate a united front against pervasive fraud and abuse by government contractors, an aggressive effort that has borne fruit, recovering funds and protecting important federal programs. This Article proposes ways in which relators' counsel and government attorneys can work together more effectively in these cases to achieve the goals of the statute.     

Luminescent visualization of latent fingerprints by direct reaction with a lanthanide shift reagent.

The utilization of the lanthanide shift reagent tris (6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanedionato) europium (III) [Eu(fod)3] as a simple one-step reagent for the luminescent visualization of latent fingerprints has been investigated. UV excitation of Eu(fod)3-treated prints, achieved by using a hand-held UV lamp or a Polilight, results in an orange emission at 614 nm. Time-resolved imaging is not required for visualization. Visualization of latent fingerprints on paper under the conditions used, although good, was found to be inferior to that obtained by standard DFO (1,8-diazafluoren-9-one) treatment, whereas visualization of prints obtained on aluminum drink cans and galvanized iron proved superior to that obtained by Superglue/panacryl treatment. Eu(fod)3 treatment can also be used first without compromising subsequent ninhydrin or DFO treatment, making it a 'nothing-to-lose" reagent.     

On the use of play theory in analyses of online public commentary

Abstract

The concept of play mediates between deliberation as a mode of reason and resistance as a mode of culture, thus opening a way to think about hostile comment (e.g., ‘flaming’) on online news forums as normal patterns of behaviour, instead of a departure from the received view of how citizens ought to consider matters of public interest. The play concept corresponds with current thinking around the notion of cultural citizenship. To illustrate the relevance of play theory in the analysis of online political discourse, this article uses an example from recent posts concerning the Protection of Information Bill (POIB) in the online site of the South African Mail & Guardian newspaper. The cogency of play theory to the concept of citizenship is argued through a discussion of how citizenship has been understood from the 1930s to the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the improved capacities of information and communications technologies (ICTs) made online deliberation a normal site for citizenship to be exercised.     

Book reviews

Indonesia. By J. D. Legge. Prentice‐Hall, New Jersey, 1965. Pp. iii, 184. 40/‐

Pre‐capitalist Economic Formations. By Karl Marx. With an introduction by Eric Hobsbawm. Trans, by Jack Cohen. Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1964. Pp. 153. 25/‐.

Economic Survey of Latin America, 1962. Organization of American States. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1964. Pp. 425. 68/‐     

The illegal narcotics trade in southern Africa: A programme for action

The current policy arena with regard to drugs in South Africa is in a state of transition. Yet the burden of harm associated with drug use and the increased usage that has accompanied our changing situation necessitate, it is argued, a comprehensive drug control strategy. The paper provides an overview of previous attempts to address the problem in South Africa and presents the case for a ‘master plan’. It outlines a wide‐ranging set of factors that need to be considered, including the necessity to go beyond ‘control’ strategies to more pro‐actively dealing with demand, a move which should be underpinned by quality research.     

The interpersonal voice: applying appraisal to the rap and sung voice

Following in the traditions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and social semiotics, this paper applies the linguistic system of appraisal to the mode of sound. More specifically, it aims to describe and compare the interpersonal properties of the rap and sung performance voices. In doing so, this paper also aims to provide analysts with a systematic, principled method by which to identifying interpersonal meanings in sound. Drawing on various aspects of the appraisal framework, and the respective sound features of the rap and sung voice, this paper offers three approaches. The first approach employs the grammatical frames used to classify the attitude sub-systems of affect, judgment, and appreciation. The second approach is more general in scope and analogizes from the sound systems of melody, time, and voice quality to the appraisal systems of attitude, engagement, and graduation, respectively. The third approach applies the concept of binding to the distinctive sounds of the rap and sung voice. The paper concludes by considering some future directions for this research.     

Not Ozzie and Harriet: Postwar Divorce and the American Liberal Welfare State

This article analyzes divorce as a technology of governance in twentieth-century America in order to examine the emergence of a rights-based liberal welfare-state regime during the postwar era. The author offers an interpretation of the post–World War II "divorce boom" that challenges prevailing notions of postwar domestic tranquillity and highlights the legal formalization of family relations and the administration of the developing welfare state. The article posits an important shift in postwar public policy regarding divorce from the policing of public morality through family preservation to the regulation of public welfare through family structures. The legal consequences of this shift are explored at the local level by focusing on the "problem" of the Chicago divorce courts and the frustrated attempts of postwar reformers in Illinois to employ the traditional methods and rhetoric of Progressive Era reform. At the national level, the author examines the formulation of new governmental objectives and individual rights in the liberal welfare-state regime through an analysis of the United States Supreme Court's'decisions regarding migratory divorce.