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There are over one thousand settlements in Northern Ceylon ranging in size from less than ten to over one hundred thousand people. Though most of them are rural, they have developed in a variety of ways and been affected by both economic and physical conditions. The functional character of these settlements varies greatly; 446 are without any recognized central functions and the number of functions range from one to one hundred and eight. The study is primarily concerned with the central place system and the related phenomena of central place theory. The role of commercial and service organizations and markets and fairs in the distributive system of goods is analysed. The population and functional relations of settlements and threshold entry for different functions are determined. One hundred and twelve functions were recorded to) assess the functional level of settlements. The concepts of aggregate and relative importance (nodality and centrality) were explored and techniques to measure these criteria were developed. Seven grades of central places were identified based on hierarchical principles and these are city, major town, town, township, large village, village and hamlet. Functional characteristics of the central place system are analysed on a regional and intra-urban basis. Service areas of functions and places were determined from the public transport pattern and other related data. Finally, an analysis was made of the future regional economic and settlement pattern and the application of central place theory in the creation of new settlements and to improve urban/rural relations.

The settlement system of Thessaly is examined within the framework provided by central place theory. The adoption of a systems approach to the research determines the organization of the work. Firstly, there is an analysis of the sectoral structure of the Greek economy with particular reference to retail trade. The importance of tertiary activity in the economy is indicated and the traditional nature of most Greek retailing is considered. Next, the physical, historical, economic and demographic background of Thessaly is described. The region consists of a fertile plain surrounded on all sides by mountains. The economy is dominated by agriculture and the secondary and tertiary sectors are strongly oriented to it. In the post-war period the population of the area has stagnated because of heavy rural emigration focussed primarily on Athens, The analysis of the settlement system then falls into three parts. The functional regions of Thessaly are identified by subjecting an interaction matrix of bus traffic flows to factor analysis. These describe the general structure of the settlement system and allow the subsequent detailed analysis of the settlement system of West Thessaly to be placed within a wider context. This detailed analysis is based primarily on data collected in the field. It consists of a study of the hierarchical and spatial structure of the system and the aggregate relationships between its components. A well developed hierarchical structure is found, and its historical evolution is examined. Following this, a study of consumer movements in West Thessaly is made which is based on data collected from questionnaires circulated in the region. The behaviour of the settlement system as revealed by this analysis accords closely with the structure of the system. A composite assessment of the settlement system is then made which relates its structure and behaviour to the theoretical framework of the research, and comparisons are made with other studies of settlement systems in-Greece. Finally, the Greek regional problem is examined, one element in which is the nature and role of the provincial settlement system, and the implications of this research for future planning strategies are outlined.

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No description available.

No description available.

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Models have been inconsistent in their prediction of ice sheet volumes and extent over the Antarctic Peninsula and sub-Antarctic islands during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and their contribution to sea level rise during subsequent deglaciation remains uncertain. The use of precise relative sea level (RSL) data offers great potential for inferring regional ice sheet histories, as well as helping to validate numerical models predicting future ice sheet evolution and RSL change. This thesis aims to elucidate the RSL history of the South Shetland Islands (SSIs), a sub-Antarctic archipelago peripheral to the northern Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet, by integrating evidence from isolation basins with geomorphological evidence from raised beaches. This will extend the only previously reported RSL curve from the area (Bentley et al., 2005a), which reveals a complex but poorly chronologically constrained RSL history. In addition, this work also aims to improve the understanding of the long-term tectonic influence on RSL change. Sediment cores were taken from five lakes on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island (eastern SSIs) at a range of altitudes above present sea level. Diatom, stable isotope (δ13C) and physical analyses of sediments revealed clear marine-lacustrine transitions in lakes below 16 m above mean sea level (amsl), with no marine signal above this altitude. Together with radiocarbon dates from raised beaches, a RSL curve was produced for the last 9500 14C yr BP. This curve shows a mid-Holocene RSL highstand at 15.5 m amsl between ca. 6150 and 6700 14C yr BP, preceded by a period of extremely rapid RSL rise and followed by more gradual RSL fall as a consequence of isostatic uplift in response to regional deglaciation. In addition, regional GPS surveys of raised beaches were conducted to assess the spatial pattern of glacio-isostatic rebound following deglaciation. The centre of uplift was found to closely coincide with the centre of the LGM ice sheet reconstructed by John and Sugden (1971). Beaches were modelled using polynomial trend surface analysis to constrain the spatial variability of isostatic uplift across the SSIs, which has enabled the regional extrapolation of the RSL curve across the archipelago. Finally, two independent approaches were taken to constrain the long-term tectonic uplift rate of the SSIs as 0.22-0.48 m/ka. Tectonic uplift contributes between 1.4 and 2.9 m to the reconstructed RSL highstand.

For a series of functions or services, the movement of people living in County Durham has been obtained. The functions studied were car driving tests, employment at coal mines, hospital treatment for ophthalmic and general surgery specialities, season ticket distribution for professional football clubs and student attendance at technical colleges. This data forms the basis for mapping urban fields and defining specific lands for each of the chosen functions. Bach function is then studied in detail in an attempt to establish the variables that affect the pattern of urban fields and specific umlands. This is set against central place theory and the operating of a central place system. The variables recognised from this analysis are population distribution, distance, the power of attraction of centres and the distances of centres from each, other. These variables are initially checked by sample studies of centres and small settlements. The nest stage is the building of a stochastic model of their system. A ratio called the interaction index is used to remove the influence of the population distribution and thereby simplify the model. This model is then tested by a multiple regression computer programme. The results show the importance of distance as a variable, the problem of adequately defining the level of a function at a centre, and the equilibrium nature of the system by the failure of the centre network to be statistically significant. The analysis also shows that the interaction index fits into a social physics system and does remove the distorting affect of population distribution.