New Releases by Yoon Choi

WINNER OF THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE • The breathtaking debut of an important new voice—centered on a constellation of Korean American families “To encounter these achingly truthful, beautiful stories of newcomer Americans is like gazing up at the starry vault of a perfect night sky; it’s immediately dazzling and impressive, and yet the closer and deeper you look, the more you appreciate the sheer countless brilliance.” —Chang-rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad A long-married couple is forced to confront their friend''s painful past when a church revival comes to a nearby town ... A woman in an arranged marriage struggles to connect with the son she hid from her husband for years ... A well-meaning sister unwittingly reunites an abuser with his victims. Through an indelible array of lives, Yoon Choi explores where first and second generations either clash or find common ground, where meaning falls in the cracks between languages, where relationships bend under the weight of tenderness and disappointment, where displacement turns to heartbreak. Skinship is suffused with a profound understanding of humanity and offers a searing look at who the people we love truly are.

This dissertation consists of three essays regarding two different topics in agricultural economics. In the first two studies, a two-part exercise on adapting land-use decisions to climate change conditions is conducted using economic models. In the last study, the impacts of a federal assistance program on the food industry are examined using a quasi-experimental design. In Chapter 1, we project and discuss land conversion to agricultural and non-agricultural uses in the state of California, which faces significant challenges associated with climate change and availability of water resources. To carry out our analysis, we adapt and estimate a supply and demand model, accounting for climate, water use, and urbanization pressures. Using climate projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we simulate expected changes in land allocation under alternative climate conditions. The change in total farmland under future climate conditions varies between -14% and 14%, depending on the IPCC model and emission scenario used, though the overall average is a decline of 5% by 2099. Chapter 2 narrows our research focus to agricultural product allocation within land devoted to agriculture. A system of land demand equations is estimated to examine a given farmer''s decision to allocate land to major agricultural products in California, limiting attention to the top three cash making operations, namely pasture (dairy products, cattle and calves), grapes, and almonds. Next, simulations meant to predict the effect of climate change on farmland allocation among products are conducted. For each climate scenario, the corresponding predicted results for total agricultural land use from Chapter 1 are employed. On the whole, we find that pasture land share decreases substantially, almond land share declines by a much smaller margin, and there is no uniform trend for grapes. However, the magnitude of potential adaptation is dependent on the climate model and emission scenario under consideration. In Chapter 3, we investigate the US Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)''s spillover effect. WIC provides infant formula to participating low-income families with children under 12 months of age. Using difference-in-differences (DID) models, this study examines how changing a state''s WIC infant formula contract manufacturer affected the volume sales of the new and former contract brands, including spillover effects on sales of infant formula not eligible for WIC and toddler milks. We find that one year following a contract change, the average volume sales of WIC-eligible infant formula for the new contract brand dramatically increased, while sales decreased for the former brand. The average sales of non-WIC-eligible infant formula and toddler milk products for the new WIC brand also increased after the change.

Presents a selection of the best works of short fiction of the past year from a variety of acclaimed sources.

This study reviews recent applications of the music-inspired HS algorithm, such as music composition, Sudoku puzzle solving, structural design, ecological conservation, aquifer.

Estudamos os efeitos da estimulação elétrica no nucleus basalis magnocelular (Meynert), núcleo colinégico que projeta aferências para o córtex cerebral e tem sido associado a mecanismos de aprendizagem e memória. Verificamos os efeitos eletrofisiológicos induzidos pela estimulação elétrica do núcleo basalis pareado com apresentação de um tom puro. Caracterizamos a dinâmica da atividade elétrica neural do cortex auditivo primário e de núcleos subcorticais relacionados à circuitaria da aprendizagem e memória, durante o condicionamento auditivo nos momentos de aquisição e de revocação além correlacioná-las a dinâmica de freqüência cardiaca, variável que pode exprimir a relevância de um estímulo.