Tax Increment Financing in Maine

Tax Increment Financing ( TIF ) is a statutorily authorized mechanism which enables municipalities to earmark the property tax revenue from designated areas to pay for things such as infrastructure improvement. Lately, Maine municipalities have been using TIF to refund tax revenues directly to private developers in an effort to attract new business. This Comment will begin by briefly explaining the development of TIF in the United States and how it has evolved over time. It will then summarize how TIF works in Maine and the criticism and praise it has received throughout its existence. Next, it will look at research examining the efficacy of TIF around the country and in Maine. This Comment will argue that (1) TIF should be used for infrastructure improvements and job training, not to reimburse developers; (2) the maximum time limit for a TIF agreement should be lowered from thirty years to twenty years; (3) the state should limit the use of TIF to mitigate the impact it has on surrounding communities; and (4) the state should set job standards for business that benefit from TIF. Finally, this Comment will end by suggesting strategies for small Maine towns to make the most of TIF as it currently exists

Graduate Percussion Recital of Works by Carter, Glentworth, Hollinden, Deane, and Koshinski

The aim of this thesis is to offer further information on the six different pieces that were performed on April 10th, 2018 in the McCray Recital Hall on the campus of Pittsburg State University, in partial fulfillment of a Master of Music degree. Included in this program were works for marimba, vibraphone, timpani, and multiple percussion. These pieces were predominantly chosen because of their prominence in the canon of percussion literature. This is to say that each of the pieces performed have interesting and challenging musical ideas that have inspired percussionists over many years to perform them. This text is meant to provide context as to why these pieces deserve this respected position, why they are worth performing, and the complex ideas contained therein. Each piece will have its own chapter, detailing out these concepts. Biological information about the composer will also be provided, along with analysis of the work, performance considerations and any other interesting detail about the piece that is pertinent to this discussion. Each piece will be discussed with respect to their order in the performance program. The program order was considered heavily when this recital was being put together. The initial piece, Saeta, was a great way to begin the recital. The piece put a tense and quiet energy in the hall. Following this was the last movement from that same set of solos, March, which is an interesting piece both audibly and visibly for the audience. Following these two pieces, the vibraphone solo, Blues for Gilbert, provided a soft, lamenting tone that contrasted the bold and brash sound of the timpani. Continuing with contrasting pieces, the multi-percussion piece Cold Pressed was next. This piece was a departure from the tonality of the previous three pieces, allowing the audience a musical palate cleanser made of cowbells, temple blocks and other assorted percussion instruments. After a brief intermission, the more serious and lengthy work The Process of Invention for marimba was performed. This piece was very complex and required a lot of attention and consideration from the audience. To account for audience fatigue, As One, was the final piece. A duet for two, it offered very fast rhythms, interesting interplay between the two players, and entertaining choreography that was enjoyable for the audience. This seemed a fitting way to end the recital, offering an enjoyable and impressive display of musicianship

Massive photons: an infrared regularization scheme for lattice QCD+QED

Standard methods for including electromagnetic interactions in lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations result in power-law finite-volume corrections to physical quantities. Removing these by extrapolation requires costly computations at multiple volumes. We introduce a photon mass to alternatively regulate the infrared, and rely on effective field theory to remove its unphysical effects. Electromagnetic modifications to the hadron spectrum are reliably estimated with a precision and cost comparable to conventional approaches that utilize multiple larger volumes. A significant overall cost advantage emerges when accounting for ensemble generation. The proposed method may benefit lattice calculations involving multiple charged hadrons, as well as quantum many-body computations with long-range Coulomb interactions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables; significant revisions to abstract and main text; revised presentation of results for clarity (results unchanged); acknowledgements updated; matches published versio

Review of geographical stocks of tropical dolphins (Stenella spp. and Delphinus delphis) in the eastern Pacific

Information on geographical variation is reviewed for Stenella attenuata, S. longirostris, S. coeruleoalba, and Delphinus delphis in the eastern tropical Pacific, and boundaries for potential management units are proposed. National Marine Fisheries Service and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission sighting records made from 1979 to 1983 which were outside boundaries used in a 1979 assessment were examined for validity. Tagging returns and morphological data were also analyzed. Several stock ranges are expanded or combined. Three management units are proposed for S. attenuata: the coastal, northern offshore, and southern offshore spoiled dolphins. Four management units are proposed for S. longirostris: the Costa Rican, eastern, northern whitebelly, and southern whitebelly spinner dolphins. Two provisional management units are proposed for S. coeruleoalba: the northern and southern striped dolphins. Five management units (two of which are provisional) are proposed for D. delphis: the Baja neritic, northern, central, southern, and Guerrero common dolphins. Division into management units was based on morphological stock differences and distributional breaks. (PDF file contains 34 pages.

Clean Kinematic Samples in Dwarf Spheroidals: An Algorithm for Evaluating Membership and Estimating Distribution Parameters When Contamination is Present

(abridged) We develop an algorithm for estimating parameters of a distribution sampled with contamination, employing a statistical technique known as ``expectation maximization'' (EM). Given models for both member and contaminant populations, the EM algorithm iteratively evaluates the membership probability of each discrete data point, then uses those probabilities to update parameter estimates for member and contaminant distributions. The EM approach has wide applicability to the analysis of astronomical data. Here we tailor an EM algorithm to operate on spectroscopic samples obtained with the Michigan-MIKE Fiber System (MMFS) as part of our Magellan survey of stellar radial velocities in nearby dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. These samples are presented in a companion paper and contain discrete measurements of line-of-sight velocity, projected position, and Mg index for ~1000 - 2500 stars per dSph, including some fraction of contamination by foreground Milky Way stars. The EM algorithm quantifies both dSph and contaminant distributions, returning maximum-likelihood estimates of the means and variances, as well as the probability that each star is a dSph member. Applied to our MMFS data, the EM algorithm identifies more than 5000 probable dSph members. We test the performance of the EM algorithm on simulated data sets that represent a range of sample size, level of contamination, and amount of overlap between dSph and contaminant velocity distributions. The simulations establish that for samples ranging from large (N ~3000) to small (N~30), the EM algorithm distinguishes members from contaminants and returns accurate parameter estimates much more reliably than conventional methods of contaminant removal (e.g., sigma clipping).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. Download pdf with full-resolution figures from http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~walker/dsph_em.pd

On Kinematic Substructure in the Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We present multifiber echelle radial velocity results for 551 stars in the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy and identify 294 stars as probable Sextans members. The projected velocity dispersion profile of the binned data remains flat to a maximum angular radius of $30^{\prime}$. We introduce a nonparametric technique for estimating the projected velocity dispersion surface, and use this to search for kinematic substructure. Our data do not confirm previous reports of a kinematically distinct stellar population at the Sextans center. Instead we detect a region near the Sextans core radius that is kinematically colder than the overall Sextans sample with 95% confidence.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 4 figures (2 color

T-cell Apoptosis in Human Glioblastoma Multiforme: Implications for Immunotherapy

We used immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry to assess apoptosis in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Our immunohistochemical study revealed apoptosis of glioma cells expressing glial fibrillary acidic protein and of CD3+ T cells infiltrating GBM. To quantify and phenotype the apoptotic T cells, we performed flow cytometry on lymphocytes separated from GBM. The cells were stained with annexin-V-FLUOS/propidium iodide to identify apoptosis. We found that high proportions of both the CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were apoptotic. In particular, we found that T cells expressing Fas ligand (Fas-L, CD95L) were eight times more vulnerable to apoptosis than those not expressing Fas-L, which suggests that the T-cell apoptosis is induced by overactivation of the T-cell receptor, possibly in the absence of appropriate costimulation. Our results have implications for the design of immunotherapies for GBM