Berkeley County Research Articles

How different libraries handle their children’s collections

A Report about the classification of children's libraries in 3 countries: Lebanon, the USA, and Canada. It states the customized classification themes in 5 children's libraries: the Lebanese American University Library, Perrot Memorial Library, Westminster Public Library, Berkeley County Library System, and West Vancouver Memorial Library.

Noteworthy Collections—South Carolina

Discussion is provided for an occurrence of Macbridea caroliniana thought to be extirpated (Berkeley County) and five new occurrences collected 2019–2020 on the South Carolina Coastal Plain. One new occurrence is a county record (Charleston County). Four new occurrences along the Black River through Berkeley and Williamsburg counties suggest favorable habitat in that region. Findings suggest that this species may be underreported in South Carolina and effort should be placed in identifying disturbed habitat in conserved natural areas that may harbor this rare plant.

Land Cover Change and Soil Carbon Regulating Ecosystem Services in the State of South Carolina, USA

Integration of land cover change with soil information is important for valuation of soil carbon (C) regulating ecosystem services (ES) and disservices (ED) and for site-specific land management. The objective of this study was to assess the change in value of regulating ES from soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC), and total soil carbon (TSC) stocks, based on the concept of the avoided social cost of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for the state of South Carolina (SC) in the United States of America (U.S.A.) by soil order (Soil Taxonomy), land cover, and land cover change (National Land Cover Database, NLCD) using information from the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) and Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) databases. Classified land cover data for 2001 and 2016 were downloaded from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) website. The total estimated monetary mid-point value for TSC in the state of South Carolina was $124.42B (i.e., $124.42 billion U.S. dollars, where B = billion = 109) with the following monetary distribution in 2016 and percent change in value between 2001 and 2016: barren land ($259.7M, −9%) (i.e., $259.7 million U.S. dollars, where M = million = 106), woody wetlands ($33.8B, −1%), shrub/scrub ($3.9B, +9%), mixed forest ($6.9B, +5%), deciduous forest ($10.6B, −7%), herbaceous ($4.8B, −5%), evergreen forest ($28.6B, +1%), emergent herbaceous wetlands ($6.9B, −3%), hay/pasture ($7.3B, −10%), cultivated crops ($9.9B, 0%), developed, open space ($7.0B, +5%), developed, medium intensity ($978M, +46%), developed, low intensity ($2.9B, +15%), and developed, high intensity ($318M, +39%). The percent change in monetary values was different from percent change in areas because different soil orders have different TSC contents. The percent changes (between 2001 and 2016) both in areas and monetary values varied by soil order and land cover with $1.1B in likely “realized” social cost of C mostly associated with Ultisols ($658.8M). The Midlands region of the state experienced the highest gains in the “high disturbance” classes and corresponding SC-CO2 with over $421M for TSC, $354.6M for SOC, and $66.4M for SIC. Among counties, Horry County ranked first with over $142.2M in SC-CO2 for TSC, followed by Lexington ($103.7M), Richland ($95.3M), Greenville ($81.4M), York ($77.5M), Charleston ($70.7M), Beaufort ($64.1M), Berkeley ($50.9M), Spartanburg ($50.0M), and Aiken ($43.0M) counties. Spatial and temporal analyses of land cover can identify critical locations of soil carbon regulating ecosystem services at risk.

Articulating infrastructure to water: Agri-culture and Google’s South Carolina data center

This article draws from a critical discourse analysis of Google’s three-year process to gain permission to extract greater amounts of water from an aquifer in South Carolina located near one of its data centers. Through an account of this local conflict by analyzing local news coverage, we participate in ongoing academic research regarding how the conditions of media infrastructures – the otherwise banal and largely taken-for-granted facilities that help technologies like cloud storage and streaming to operate – need to be explored in terms of the particular, local conflicts that arise from major corporations like Google building infrastructure in places like Berkeley County, South Carolina. To advance this research, we offer what we call an agri-cultural approach, which emphasizes how digital culture is formed from conflicts over the relationships between natural resources like water and digital infrastructures like data centers.

Using Geographic Information System Analysis to Understand West Virginia’s Growing Opioid-Overdose Epidemic - What Are We Missing?

Introduction:The opioid epidemic is overwhelming communities across the United States. West Virginia (WV) has been devastated, heralding a 86% increase in deaths from 2012-2016, and over 1,000 deaths last year as per WV Health Statistics Center. Treatment centers and providers have emerged throughout the state to provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT). The impact of these clinics on the opioid abusing population is not yet fully understood.Aim:Utilizing Geographic Information System (GIS), a comparison of MAT provider locations versus regions of historical overdoses can indicate areas of deficiency. If no providers emerge in underserved counties, overdose deaths in those areas will continue to rise.Methods:Maps were created using current DEA-X licenses in WV registered through Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA). Overdose death rates were taken from WV Public Health Records from 2010-2017. Two maps and corresponding data were compared for overlap or lack thereof.Results:Of the 338 locations of DEA-X licenses registered, 17.5% are in Cabell County, which led the state in overdose deaths in 2017. Only 2.5% of the total providers are currently in Wayne County, which had the second highest overdose death rate. Berkeley County, which was 3rd highest, has a mere 6.5% of total providers. Comparatively, Kanawah County, home to the state’s capital, has over twice this number of providers despite consistently having at or below the state average of overdose rates. Resources are pulled towards population-dense areas or university centers, where the epidemic is present but misses counties with higher overdose rates.Discussion:Results show a lack of MAT providers in many of WV’s devastated counties. Treatment centers exist throughout the state but are concentrated in regions with large cities or academic centers. This distribution limits accessibility to a marginalized patient population, making improvements unlikely in WV’s future opioid-overdose death rates.

Tupelocetus palmeri, a new species of protocetid whale (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the middle Eocene of South Carolina

ABSTRACTWe describe Tupelocetus palmeri, a new genus and species of archaeocete whale, based on a single specimen from the Cross Member of the middle Eocene Tupelo Bay Formation (Bartonian). The holotype consists of a partial cranium with complete petrosals, posterior processes of tympanics, the posterior ends of the nasals, a part of the right orbit, and what are interpreted as the right and left P2s. The incomplete skull was collected from the Martin Marietta Cross Quarry (Berkeley County, South Carolina), which has also furnished the holotype of Carolinacetus gingerichi. The new species differs from all other protocetids in having a deep cavity on the occiput, as well as having the following combination of features: large nasal processes of frontals, single-cusped P2, and premaxilla terminates at level of P2 or P3. A phylogenetic analysis places T. palmeri in a large polytomy along the cetacean stem, more closely related to crown Cetacea than Maiacetus, Artiocetus, and Rodhocetus, but more basal than Georgiacetus, Babiacetus, and Eocetus. Another member of this polytomy is Natchitochia jonesi, and although specimens of Natchitochia and T. palmeri do not share any elements, what is preserved suggests that they are similar in size and among the largest of all protocetids. Although we are unable to differentiate these two species, we outline future data that could resolve this question.

Identifying farmland of local importance in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties

The determination of farmland of local importance is a critical component in protecting local agricultural land. However, the initial responsibility for identifying this land falls upon local units of government which are given limited guidance, direction, and support. As such, this can be a highly subjective process. The objective of this study was to apply a previously-described approach to systematically identify potential farmland of local importance in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties of West Virginia, thus facilitating a more informed and less subjective determination. To this end, this study examined definitions of other important soils, developed local criteria based on our specific regional agricultural community, and used a geographic information system (GIS) to identify potential farmland of local importance. Three map units in each county were identified for further consideration. Following a closer examination of their extents, descriptions, and patterns of use, the appropriate local unit of government was provided with the rationale for considering these soils. With this information, the local unit of government was then able to evaluate the data objectively and make a more informed, less subjective decision about potential soil map units of local importance in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties.

Projections of Watershed Pollutant Loads Using a Spatially Explicit, Agent-Based Land Use Conversion Model: A Case Study of Berkeley County, West Virginia

This research presents a methodology to make projections of land use conversions in Berkeley County, West Virginia and then utilizes these projections to estimate water quality impacts on the Opequon Creek in Berkeley County. Empirical estimates for factors that influence the land use conversion probability are captured using parameters from a spatial logistic regression (SLR) model. Then, an agent-based, probabilistic land use conversion (APLUC) model is used to explore the impacts of policies on land use conversion decisions using estimates from actual land use change from 2001 to 2011 in SLR model. Three policy scenarios are developed: (1) no policy implementation, (2) a 15.24 m (50 ft) buffer zone policy of no development applied to all streams, and (3) 15.24 m buffer policy applied only on critical source area (CSA) watersheds. The projected land use patterns in the APLUC model are driven by individual land conversion decisions over 50 model runs of 10 iterations each under each policy scenario. The results show that with no policy scenario, most conversions occurred near existing residential land use and urban centers. Residential land use conversions are greatly reduced in a 15.24 m buffer policy around all streams in watershed. Spatial patterns generated under a 15.24 m buffer policy in CSAs only showed that future projected land use changes occurred close to major highways and shifted the residential development to the northern part of the Opequon Creek. Finally, the impacts of these three policies on water quality are estimated using an ArcSWAT model, a graphical user interface for SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). This model indicates that the 15.24 m buffer policy in CSAs is most effective among the three policies in reducing the pollutant loads. This study suggests that carefully designed policies which discourage residential land use conversions in CSAs, result in less pollutant loads by shifting the location of residential conversions to less critical areas where agricultural land is dominant in the watershed.

Abstract A07: Exploring the distribution of environmental cancer risk by air toxics using geographic information systems

Abstract We examined environmental cancer risk disparities in Metropolitan Charleston by determining the variability in cancer risk and outcomes geographically by racial and socioeconomic characteristics. We mapped total cancer risk from the 2005 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) and five-year (2006-2010) cancer outcomes (incidence and mortality) from the South Carolina Central Cancer Registry. Data were georeferenced to the 2000 Decennial United States Census tract boundaries in Metropolitan Charleston (i.e. Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester County). A Spearman's rank-order correlation was run to determine the relationship between cancer risk or cancer outcomes and characteristics of environmental justice (percent (%) Black, poverty, and low-income). Correlations were performed in SPSS 22.0. Bivariate choropleth maps were created in ArcGIS 10.2 to represent the geographic associations between cancer data and environmental justice variables. Our findings demonstrate an inverse relationship between cancer risk and five-year cancer incidence (rs = -1.90, p = .040). Cancer risk was positively correlated with % Black (rs = .324) and % poverty (rs = .474), yet negatively related to % income (rs = -.542). Bivariate maps showed that 80% of the tracts with high cancer incidence/high percent Black population were simultaneously high cancer mortality/high Black population tracts. None of the high incidence or high mortality tracts had simultaneously high cancer risk. Findings from this study have implications for reducing place-based environmental cancer disparities. With a better understanding of patterns of risk, public health professionals can tailor interventions and develop community-based environmental health programs that will inform policies to reduce cancer inequities. Citation Format: LaShanta J. Rice, Christopher T. Emrich, Heather M. Brandt, Lucy Annang Ingram, James W. Hardin, Sacoby M. Wilson, Chanita Hughes Halbert. Exploring the distribution of environmental cancer risk by air toxics using geographic information systems. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A07.

Quantifying the Seafood Consumption Patterns of Recreational Anglers in Charleston and Berkeley Counties, South Carolina.

This study was designed to provide self-reported data on the frequency of fish consumption and shellfish consumption in Charleston and Berkeley (CB) counties, South Carolina. While commercial fishing and recreational fishing have played an important role in the culture and history of the area, information on the specific patterns of consumption by recreational anglers has been previously unavailable. The pilot data presented here will help determine the feasibility of a large-scale survey of seafood consumption in coastal South Carolina. The study’s sampling frame consisted of CB county anglers who had purchased a recreational saltwater fishing license for the 2005/2006 year with oversampling in North Charleston. Survey recipients were asked to provide information on fish consumption and shellfish consumption, general angling habits, perception of water and fishing quality, and demographics. Of the 2500 individuals who were sent questionnaires, about one-fourth responded. Respondents were generally white, middle, or upper class and highly educated. The majority fished by boat and most often ate flounder, spotted sea trout, and red drum. Most respondents ate shrimp several times a month and also supplemented their recreational catch with seafood purchased from grocery stores, markets, and restaurants. Almost all respondents had eaten some seafood in the last year, and more than one-fourth ate seafood twice a week or more. Most anglers responded positively about the area’s fishing and water qualities, but many referred to areas where they would hesitate to eat their catch. Further research may need to incorporate direct distribution of surveys to underrepresented groups and financial incentives to encompass a more diverse population of anglers.

Late Paleocene glyptosaur (Reptilia: Anguidae) osteoderms from South Carolina, USA

AbstractHeavily tuberculated glyptosaur osteoderms were collected in an active limestone quarry in northern Berkeley County, South Carolina. The osteoderms are part of a highly diverse late Paleocene vertebrate assemblage that consists of marine, terrestrial, fluvial, and/or brackish water taxa, including chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fish, turtles (chelonioid, trionychid, pelomedusid, emydid), crocodilians, palaeopheid snakes, and a mammal. Calcareous nannofossils indicate that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated within subzone NP9a of the Thanetian Stage (late Paleocene, upper part of Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age [NALMA]) and is therefore temporally equivalent to the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation. The composition of the paleofauna indicates that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated in a marginal marine setting that was influenced by fluvial processes (estuarine or deltaic).The discovery of South Carolina osteoderms is significant because they expand the late Paleocene geographic range of glyptosaurines eastward from the US midcontinent to the Atlantic Coastal Plain and provide one of the few North American records of these lizards inhabiting coastal habitats. This discovery also brings to light a possibility that post-Paleocene expansion of this group into Europe occurred via northeastward migration along the Atlantic coast of North America.

A new elasmobranch assemblage from the early Eocene (Ypresian) Fishburne Formation of Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA

A rich elasmobranch assemblage was recovered from the early Eocene (Ypresian) Fishburne Formation in a limestone quarry at Jamestown, Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA. Reported herein are 22 species belonging to 8 orders, at least 15 families, and 21 genera. It includes the first occurrence of Protoginglymostoma from North America. Many of the reported species have large palaeobiogeographical ranges and inhabited waters on both sides of the Atlantic, whereas others were endemic to the east coast of North America. The paucity of sizeable dentition from several of the larger species in this assemblage, and the apparent absence of relatively large macrophagous species found in contemporaneous deposits elsewhere, suggests the Jamestown site may represent a nursery ground and refuge for young and smaller individuals.

Abstract A53: Documenting community perceptions of cancer risk, environmental health, and health behaviors: A study in metropolitan Charleston

Abstract Purpose: Several studies have demonstrated the impact of cancer and environmental health disparities on African Americans, but a paucity of research has documented the risk perceptions associated with the aforementioned factors from the perspective of this population. The purpose of this study was to: 1) document perceptions of cancer risk and cancer worry, neighborhood environmental health risks, and risk-reduction health behaviors, and 2) determine the association between low perceived cancer risk and health behaviors among African Americans. Methods: A 59-item survey was administered to respondents in Metropolitan Charleston, South Carolina (Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties) from March 2013 to September 2013. A convenience sample of males and females was recruited at local venues (e.g., libraries, housing authority, and hair salons) and community events. Eight health behaviors (sun exposure, smoking, physical activity, diet, cancer screenings, vaccinations, weight, and alcohol use) were assessed. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses (chi square), and logistic regressions were estimated using SAS 9.3. Results: Respondents (N=405) were all African American, 81% female (n=323), 19% male (n=75), and ranged from 18 to 87 years of age (mean age=49). Most respondents' cancer risk perceptions were low and believed to be the result of past personal or family experiences and information received from a medical or health provider. The environment was perceived to play a very important role in causing disease. Specifically, 69% of respondents perceived the environment played a major role in the development of cancers. Approximately 47% of respondents rated their community as a somewhat good place to live, yet 81% of the sample reported a high level of concern about harmful environmental conditions. No significant associations were observed between perceived environmental health risk and low cancer risk perceptions, cancer worry or health behaviors. Low perceived cancer risk (absolute risk) was associated with non-alcohol consumption and colon cancer screening, sex, and older age (24-65, p<.05). Cancer worry was also significantly associated with being a current smoker, having a fair diet, non-alcohol consumption, and colon cancer screening (p<.05). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that perceived cancer risk and cancer worry are important indicators of health behaviors among African Americans in environmental justice communities. In addition, African Americans in Metropolitan Charleston are generally knowledgeable about the role of the environment in cancer development. Evaluating perceived cancer risks in environmentally vulnerable populations could have long term implications for controlling cancer through preventive action. Future research will investigate the triadic relationship between neighborhood environment, risk perceptions, and health behaviors. Citation Format: LaShanta Rice Rice, Heather M. Brandt, Lucy Annang Ingram, James W. Hardin, Sacoby M. Wilson. Documenting community perceptions of cancer risk, environmental health, and health behaviors: A study in metropolitan Charleston. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A53.

Selecting target populations for community nutrition intervention using spatial analyses

Target populations for community‐based interventions are often selected using subjective methods, despite interest in increasing objective, quantifiable methods in public health intervention design. The purpose of this study was to determine if spatial patterns exist among the environmental influences on childhood obesity and to establish the effectiveness of spatial analyses in determining areas in need of nutritional intervention. Three environmental risk factors for childhood obesity were selected; socioeconomic status, the proximity of grocery stores with healthy options, and the walkability of the study area. Prevalence data from each influence was mapped for each census tract in Berkeley County, West Virginia using the ArcGIS program (ESRI). The resulting maps showed clustering of risk factors and by ranking each census tract by degree of prevalence it was possible to highlight a single census tract with the greatest cumulative risk for obesity in children, with respect to the selected risk factors. In conclusion, this study has found an effective, quantifiable method with which to determine the target population in highest need for nutrition intervention.Funding source: USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative

Recently Discovered Marked Colonoware from Dean Hall Plantation, Berkeley County, South Carolina

Recently Discovered Marked Colonoware from Dean Hall Plantation, Berkeley County, South Carolina

A new genus and species of fossil myliobatoid ray from the Fishburne Formation (lower Eocene/Ypresian) of Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA

Elasmobranch fossils recovered from the Fishburne Formation (lower Eocene/Ypresian) of Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA, include species from four genera of sharks and six genera of rays. Of particular interest was the recovery of multiple isolated teeth from a new genus and species of the cownosed ray family Rhinopteridae, which is the focus of this study. The unique crown morphology separates this genus and species from Rhinoptera. Eorhinoptera grabdai, gen. et sp. nov., is represented by small, bar-shaped teeth in the shape of greatly elongated hexagons. These teeth are the isolated elements of a dental plate. The holotype, with 12 wide root lobes, is the most elongated in the sample being 1 cm long and 1.5 mm wide, indicating an origin in the central region of the plate. Paratypes are less elongated, have 4–8 root lobes and are from more lateral rows. The crown is smooth and has a distinctly convex occlusal surface. Eorhinoptera is only the second genus of cow-nosed ray. Its distinctive crown morphology may have allowed it to exploit different kinds of prey than those favoured by rays that lacked convex tooth crowns.

New record of an extinct fish, <em>Fisherichthys folmeri</em> Weems (Osteichthyes), from the lower Eocene of Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA

Fisherichthys folmeri Weems 1999 (Sciaenidae?) is an extinct teleostean fish occurring in marine strata of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains, USA. We report isolated teeth collected from a lower Eocene (Ypresian) deposit in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Crowns of unworn teeth bear apical papillae surrounding a central depression, but these features are lost as teeth are worn through in vivo usage. The pulp cavity appears to become reduced in size as the tooth matures in the alveolus. Fisherichthys folmeri is thus far only known from Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia in strata ranging in age from 50.8 to 55 Ma.

Scientific Note: Quercus sinuata Walter—the Hybrid of Q. falcata and Q. phellos—Rediscovered and Neotypified

The name Quercus sinuata, published by Thomas Walter in 1788, has been interpreted to apply to some species of oak native to the southeastern United States, most often the Bluff Oak (Q. austrina Small). Inspection of the vegetation in the immediate vicinity of Walter’s North Carolina homesite disclosed no Bluff Oak, but did reveal several trees that well matched Walter’s description. Specimens from these trees have been identified as the hybrid of the Southern Red Oak (Q. falcata Michx.) and the Willow Oak (Q. phellos L.), both of which were found at the same location. To provide stability to the name Q. sinuata, a neotype has been selected. In the second half of the 18th century Thomas Walter, an English expatriate, maintained a home and plantation on the Santee River, Berkeley County, South Carolina. In 1788 Walter published his Flora Caroliniana, a record of the plants he had encountered, matching many as best he could with those in the books of Carl Linnaeus, and including others that he believed to be new. His modest volume, the first flora published in America to follow the new Linnaean system of binomial nomenclature, contained 436 genera and approximately 1050 species. For each species he gave a brief diagnosis in Latin and a two-part Latin name. Walter described 13 species of Quercus, the oaks. Most are readily recognized: Q. sempervirens Walt. (5Q. virginiana Mill., Live Oak), Q. phellos L. (Willow Oak), Q. humilis Walt. (5Q. incana Bartr., Blue-jack Oak), Q. prinus non L. (5Q. michauxii Nutt., Swamp Chestnut Oak), Q. nigra non L. (Q. marilandica Muench., Blackjack Oak), Q. aquatica Walt. (5Q. nigra L., Water Oak), Q. rubra non L. (5Q. falcata Michx., Southern Red Oak), Q. laevis Walt. (Turkey Oak), Q. alba L. (White Oak), Q. lyrata Walt. (Overcup Oak), Q. villosa Walt. (5Q. stellata Wangenh., Post Oak). These determinations are in agreement with conclusions of a recent careful study of Walter’s oaks (Wilbur 2002). One of Walter’s oaks is less clear. The Running Oak, a shrubby, rhizomatous species, has been known since its publication as Quercus pumila Walt. Recently Wilbur (2002) has argued that Walter’s diagnosis was inadequate and that a new name was required; he supplied the need with Q. elliottii Wilbur. Walter had described the lower leaf surface as glaucis. Wilbur is correct in noting the lower surface is densely gray-puberulent, not glaucous. But Walter, probably lacking adequate magnification, can be forgiven for interpreting the gray lower surface as showing glaucescence. Granting this reasonable latitude, Walter’s description fits the Running Oak quite well. Further, Wilbur’s dismissal of Q. pumila leaves Walter’s work without a name for the Running Oak, a plant he could not help but have known in the dry oak-pine habitat adjacent to his Santee River home. Yet another of Walter’s oaks has continued to puzzle later workers. He named this species Quercus sinuata, with the diagnosis ‘‘foliis sinuatis laevibus obtusis supra pallidis, subtus subglaucis, glandibus mediocribus globosis calyce subplano’’ (i.e., leaves sinuate-margined, obtuse, pale above, subglaucous beneath, the

A New Protocetid Whale (Cetacea: Archaeoceti) from the Late Middle Eocene of South Carolina

A new genus and species of protocetid cetacean, Carolinacetus gingerichi, is described from a partial skull, the posterior portion of both dentaries, 13 vertebrae, and elements of 15 ribs found in the Cross Member of the late middle Eocene Tupelo Bay Formation in Berkeley County, South Carolina. That formation is also defined and named in this paper. Although the holotype skull of Carolinacetus is fragmentary, it includes the best preserved petrosal of any described specimen from the archaeocete families of Pakicetidae, Ambulocetidae, Remingtonocetidae, and Protocetidae. The phylogenetic relationships of Carolinacetus were determined by a cladistic analysis of a dataset that includes 16 cetacean taxa and 5 outgroups scored for 107 morphological characters. Carolinacetus was found to be the basalmost cetacean known from North America, and the most conspicuous character supporting this position is the external, bony nares being anterior to P1. Other noteworthy findings are that Georgiacetus is more basal than Babiacetus and that Remingtonocetidae occupies a branch between Pakicetidae and Protocetidae. Based on our phylogenetic analysis, the genus Gaviacetus is removed from the Basilosauridae and restored to the Protocetidae. Possible dispersal routes of protocetids from the Old World to the New World are discussed, and a route westward along the southern coast of Greenland is considered to be the most likely avenue of protocetid migration to North America.

Hospice referral decisions: the role of physicians.

In our study, we collected and evaluated the opinions of physicians in the Lowcountry of South Carolina (Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties) regarding their referrals to hospice programs and the extent of influence that their patients and families had on the decision. The research questionnaire was sent to 362 physicians who made referrals to hospice (53 percent response rate) and to 337 physicians who did not make referrals (40 percent response rate). Results revealed that medical doctors take the initiative in referrals. They felt that late referrals were due to reluctance on the part of the patient and the patient's family to admit that death was imminent. No differences were found in age, sex, medical specialty percent of terminally ill patients per practice, or initiative taken. However when the age and sex of physicians were evaluated, a statistically significant difference was found; females younger than 45 years of age were more likely to make referrals than younger males. Younger physicians were more likely to perceive that the family's reluctance to admit that death was near was a barrier to hospice referrals.