diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/control/nc/comm/ConnectionManager.java b/hyracks/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/control/nc/comm/ConnectionManager.java
index 717144d..f2c4225 100644
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/control/nc/comm/ConnectionManager.java
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/control/nc/comm/ConnectionManager.java
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@
         pendingConnectionReceivers.remove(id);
     }
 
-    public synchronized void abortConnections(UUID jobId, UUID stageId) {
+    public void abortConnections(UUID jobId, UUID stageId) {
         List<IConnectionEntry> abortConnections = new ArrayList<IConnectionEntry>();
         synchronized (this) {
             for (IConnectionEntry ce : connections) {
diff --git a/hyracks/pom.xml b/hyracks/pom.xml
index 4e28e25..34e18c4 100644
--- a/hyracks/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks/pom.xml
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@
     </snapshotRepository>
   </distributionManagement>
 
+  <properties>
+    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+  </properties>
+
   <reporting>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>