Students say racism is a problem at UMaine

When the African-American Student Association met in the Bangor Lounge of the Memorial Union Monday night to discuss racism, it was very painful, University of Maine President Dale Lick said. It was painful for the students and for the administrators that were present, Lick said. We thought we had been making good progress in creating a learning environment free of racism and harassment. We found out we still have a long way to go

Students say racism a problem at UMaine

Article from the University of Maine student newspaper The Maine Campus regarding racism experienced by Black students at the University of Maine

Let the truth be told

Lost so far in the discussion surrounding Sunday morning\u27s assault on two black students at the University of Maine is the facts. Orono Police Chief Daniel Lowe asserts that the incident was not begun as a racial incident. He refuses to speculate if, after the incident began, it then became racially-motivated

Race-related fight points to problem of alcohol and violence

Sunday morning, two black UMaine students were attacked by [nine] white men. Orono Police Chief Dan Lowe said the incident wasn\u27t racially-motivated. The two black men aren\u27t talking, and Lowe refuses to identify the nine white men because he fear racial overtones to the crime will present the administration of justice

Two black students accosted on Crosby St.

An early morning fight Sunday in Orono between two black men and nine white men resulted in multiple summonses and the hospitalization of both black men. Orono Police Chief Daniel Loew said the incident was not racially motivated, but was alcohol-related. Quester Hannah, 21, of Old Town, and Aaron Phillips, 21, of York Village, both of whom are University of Maine students, were treated for injuries received during the fracas and released from Eastern Maine Medical Center on Sunday

How universal is the fractional-quantum-Hall edge Luttinger liquid?

This article reports on our microscopic investigations of the edge of the fractional quantum Hall state at filling factor $\nu=1/3$. We show that the interaction dependence of the wave function is well described in an approximation that includes mixing with higher composite-fermion Landau levels in the lowest order. We then proceed to calculate the equal time edge Green function, which provides evidence that the Luttinger exponent characterizing the decay of the Green function at long distances is interaction dependent. The relevance of this result to tunneling experiments is discussed.Comment: 5 page

Influence of freezing and heating conditions on grape seed flavan-3-ol extractability, oxidation, and galloylation pattern

In cool-climate viticulture, the short growing season can influence grape seed maturation by reducing the apparent oxidation of flavan-3-ol monomers and associated increase in seed browning. A reduction in seed maturation increases the potential extraction of flavan-3-ol monomers into wine during maceration operations, heightening bitterness. Here, we carried out a 2 × 2 factorial experiment to test the ability of freezing and heating treatments to advance maturation (decrease flavan-3-ol, improve browning) of (Vitis vinifera L.) Pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon seeds over a 24-h incubation period. Only freezing significantly increased seed browning in both cultivars. Subsequent correlations with seed flavan-3-ol monomer concentrations suggest that freezing enhanced the oxidation of these compounds. Interestingly, natural ripening and freezing reduced galloylated flavan-3-ol monomers to a greater extent than non-galloylated ones. This study provides new information regarding the susceptibility of flavan-3-ol monomers to freezing and heating, and also suggests that freezing can advance the maturation the seeds of under-ripe red vinifera grapes

The unseen invaders : introduced earthworms as drivers of change in plant communities in North American forests (a meta-analysis)

Globally, biological invasions can have strong impacts on biodiversity as well as ecosystem functioning. While less conspicuous than introduced aboveground organisms, introduced belowground organisms may have similarly strong effects. Here, we synthesize for the first time the impacts of introduced earthworms on plant diversity and community composition in North American forests. We conducted a meta-analysis using a total of 645 observations to quantify mean effect sizes of associations between introduced earthworm communities and plant diversity, cover of plant functional groups, and cover of native and non-native plants. We found that plant diversity significantly declined with increasing richness of introduced earthworm ecological groups. While plant species richness or evenness did not change with earthworm invasion, our results indicate clear changes in plant community composition: cover of graminoids and non-native plant species significantly increased, and cover of native plant species (of all functional groups) tended to decrease, with increasing earthworm biomass. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis that introduced earthworms facilitate particular plant species adapted to the abiotic conditions of earthworm-invaded forests. Further, our study provides evidence that introduced earthworms are associated with declines in plant diversity in North American forests. Changing plant functional composition in these forests may have long-lasting effects on ecosystem functioning.Peer reviewe

City piece on state law enforcement officials who are worried that a proposal

City piece on state law enforcement officials who are worried that a proposal to implement the state\u27s medical marijuana law by distributing pot seized by police to sick people could cost Maine millions of dollars in federal grants that fund services for drug and domestic violence prevention programs. But Cumberland County sheriff Mark Dion insists the state still must come up with a plan to allow people undergoing chemotherapy, suffering from glaucoma or experiencing the side effects of medication to treat AIDS to obtain marijuana legally, since Maine voters approved such a program in referendum last year