Abstract
This paper reviews Anwuka Dike's book "Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885." The paper asserts that this is a pioneering work that sparked debate among many African historians concerning the roles of agency and structure during the economic transformation of West Africa from slave trade to "legitimate" trade. The paper explains that Dike's work also outlines an historic foundation of British economic intervention that eventually led to political intervention in British West Africa. The paper adds that the work's controversy lay in its assignment of agency to the African's in the Delta, rather than presenting them merely victims to external powers. The paper opines that Dike does not fully support his thesis throughout the book, which would have been much more complete had he continued to outline African action rather than reaction to the European economic and political environment. Still, the paper concludes, Dike's study remains a crucial watershed in the historiography of African agency.

From the Paper
"As a result of the opening of new interior markets and emergence of new trading partners, British merchants attempted to push into the hinterland and bypass African trading magnates on the coast. This expansion was met with opposition from traditional trading powers. The former slave trading power of Bonny particularly resisted British movement in to the interior, and it is from this point that Dike claims political intervention accompanied economic intervention. The British merchants demanded access to the new markets and protection by the British government while trading in the interior. These demands from the economic community initiated direct political intervention by the British government in the form of established Consulates and recognition of the Taubman's Niger Company as the de facto political administration in the area."

Tags:Africa, Nigeria, trade, colonialism, slavery, British, intervention

Abstract
This paper explains that the boundaries of Joshua Tree National Park are several mountain ranges including a quadrangle underlain by a basement terrane comprising Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, Mesozoic plutonic rocks, and Mesozoic or Cenozoic hypabyssal dikes. The author points out that, even in arid climates such as Joshua Tree National Park, water and wind are the key dynamic as far as erosion of rock is concerned; however, what is seen today in this park is a collection of relict features inherited from an earlier time of higher rainfall and lower temperatures. The paper stresses that the park, located just east of the San Andreas fault zone, is crisscrossed with hundreds of faults from ancient and recent earthquakes, which can be viewed and clearly understood by an alert visitor to the park.

From the Paper
"On June 28, 1992, the largest earthquake to have hit the contiguous United States in 40 years hit the Joshua Tree National Park area - a 7.3 Richter Scale shaker. It was called the Landers Earthquake Sequence; it was the result of a "right-lateral shear on five major faults," according to an article in the journal "Science". The earthquake was generated in an 80-kilometer-wide swath of seismically active faults along the southern part of the eastern California "shear zone" - of which Joshua Tree is a part."

Tags:earthquake, dikes, water, relict, terrane

Abstract
For Plato, justice [dike], is a concept which is never adequately defined without first establishing what both a just soul [psyche] is and what a just state [callipolis] is. These two spheres of justice, as opposed to an actual definition of justice, emerge toward the end of Book II and constitute that central theme of the following eight books. By contrast, Book I concerns several definitions of justice, and in turn, the eristic method of Socrates questioning these definitions. This paper will examine the Socratic method in light of the proposed definitions of justice. In particular, careful attention will be paid to both Thrasymachus' argument and in turn, Socrates' argument(s) against Thrasymachus. Examined will be the significance of Thrasymachus' refusal to continue in the discussion of Book I and how this refusal has implications on the idea that there is "no resolution" to the problem of justice.

Abstract
The author of the paper, in the light of global warming, climate change and rising sea levels, examines existing literature that deals with the problems that will be faced by coastal settlements and low-lying countries as water levels rise.

Outline:
Global Warming
Impacts of Global Warming
Sea Level Rise
Examples of Resort Cities Affected by Sea Level Rise
Impact of Rise in Sea Level in Venice
References

From the Paper
"The Netherlands are preparing to face a future behind a massive seawall, but the additional $10 billion to $25 billion in flood and sea defenses over the next century will have a tremendous effect on the economy of that country. The farmlands are depending on dikes and floodgates to protect them and an atmosphere of stress pervades the land. In 1953 a storm surge drowned 2,000 people, a 1955 flood forced 200,000 people and many more animals from the inundated lands. Heavy rains threaten to drown the countryside if huge pumping stations do not lift flood water over the seawalls. Today, Holland seems to be giving in to the sea. Tourist trade is dwindling, and plans to allow the Meuse and Rhine rivers to drain into the land will let more marshlands and forests to take over what is now farmland, commercial parks and towns."

Tags:water, sea, level, venice, holland, brazil, glaciers, drowned, canal, dikes, dams, coastal, seawall, hurricane