Eco-cosplay: Upcycling as a Sustainable Method of Costume Construction

This research addresses sustainability in the apparel industry from the specific perspective of repurposing materials for use in costume development. Repurposing discarded materials, also referred to as upcycling, is examined as a viable approach to waste management and evaluated for its impact on sustainability in apparel and textile production, especially in relation to costume development. Current issues in sustainability in the apparel industry that are a focus for this research include waste from production as well as post-consumer waste. The project includes the design and construction of two costume pieces based on a style of costume known as cosplay. Cosplay is a subculture of costume enthusiasts that dress up to resemble one or more characters from a fan universe. The rise of popularity in cosplay contiguous to upcycling is one reason the project combines the two concepts. Secondly, cosplay costume development can repurpose materials beyond textiles, such as plastics, glass, metal, and wood. Finally, many cosplay hobbyists may have budget constraints that can be resolved by purchasing materials to upcycle from resale stores. Resale stores are a source of materials because the maintenance of the discarded materials removes a portion of cleaning from the project. Results of the research are the established efficacy of upcycling in costume development as an approach to waste management, the determination of acceptable aesthetic quality of upcycled costumes, and general guidance for cosplay participants to follow with the intention to utilize as much repurposed or upcycled materials as individual skills allow

Can Taxes on Cars and on Gasoline Mimic an Unavailable Tax on Emissions?

A tax on vehicle emissions can efficiently induce all of the cheapest forms of abatement. Consumers could drive less, buy a smaller car with better gas mileage, use cleaner gasoline, and repair pollution control equipment (PCE). However, the technology is not yet available to measure and tax each car's total emissions. We thus investigate alternative instruments. In a simple model with identical consumers, we show conditions under which the same efficiency can be attained by the combination of a tax on gas, a tax on engine size , and a subsidy to PCE. In a model with heterogeneous consumers, the same efficiency can again be obtained, but only if each person's gasoline tax rate can be made to depend on the characteristics of the car. We solve for these first-best tax rates. Assuming that tax rates must be uniform across consumers, we then characterize second-best tax rates on gasoline and on characteristics.

Alcohol/Leisure Complementarity: Empirical Estimates and Implications for Tax Policy

This paper provides a first attempt to estimate the cross-price elasticity between alcoholic beverages and leisure, which is critical for assessing how much alcohol taxation might be warranted on fiscal grounds. We estimate an Almost Ideal Demand System defined over alcohol, leisure, and other goods, using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and other sources. Our results suggest that alcohol is a relative complement for leisure over a range of specifications. This implies that the optimal alcohol tax may substantially exceed the Pigouvian tax, reinforcing the efficiency case for higher taxation. These findings should be viewed as preliminary however, given a number of data and other limitations of the analysis.alcohol tax, demand system, alcohol, labor supply, labor tax

Eco-Cosplay: Upcycling as a Sustainable Method of Costume Construction

Abstract This research addresses sustainability in the apparel industry from the specific perspective of repurposing materials for use in costume development. Repurposing discarded materials, also referred to as upcycling, is examined as a viable approach to waste management and evaluated for its impact on sustainability in apparel and textile production, especially in relation to costume development. Current issues in sustainability in the apparel industry that are a focus for this research include waste from production as well as post-consumer waste. The project includes the design and construction of two costume pieces based on a style of costume known as cosplay. Cosplay is a subculture of costume enthusiasts that dress up to resemble one or more characters from a fan universe. The rise of popularity in cosplay contiguous to upcycling is one reason the project combines the two concepts. Secondly, cosplay costume development can repurpose materials beyond textiles, such as plastics, glass, metal, and wood. Finally, many cosplay hobbyists may have budget constraints that can be resolved by purchasing materials to upcycle from resale stores. Resale stores are a source of materials because the maintenance of the discarded materials removes a portion of cleaning from the project. Results of the research are the conclusion of the efficacy of upcycling in costume development as an approach to waste management, the assessment of the aesthetic quality of upcycled costumes, and useable guide for cosplay participants to follow with the intention to utilize as much repurposed or upcycled materials as individual skills allow. Keywords: cosplay, sustainability, upcycling, fashion, subcultur

Designing a Human-Centric Rigid Body Armor for Female Police Officers: The Implications of Fit on Performance and Gender Inclusivity

The lack of availability of female plates for police officers is an issue that has not been analyzed. Female anthropometry is uniformly different from male anthropometry. Currently available hard plates are flat. These plates may decrease coverage while increasing feelings of poor fit, discomfort, and poor mobility for both male and female officers. The plates designed for males offer the possibility of female officers experiencing feelings of gender exclusion. This research project explored the current perceptions of male and female police officers in Arkansas across the dimensions of fit, comfort, and mobility in the context of hard plate body armor. Perceptions of gender exclusion were explored through a gender ostracism scale. A female police officer of the population was the subject of a case study which explored the influence of a prototype plate from a 3D body scan on perceptions of fit, comfort, mobility, coverage, and inclusion. Range of motion was evaluated through goniometer measurements and perceptions were evaluated through Likert-scale responses and open-ended response. The outcomes of the research project included a proposed methodology for the development and evaluation of 3D modelled prototype plates

THE “HONORABLE” WOMAN: GENDER, HONOR, AND PRIVILEGE IN THE CIVIL WAR SOUTH

When past wars are discussed or taught in a mainstream setting, the focus is often on the soldiers, the battles, and the generals that led them. The topic of the people who passively lived through them is rarely included in the narrative and when it is, it usually pertains to the people on the winning side. During the Civil War, the Southern women made tremendous contributions on the home front. Although social construction of southern honor paved the way for patriotic expressions, as the war went on many women found themselves discarding these honorable gestures in favor of self-preservation. The ideology of Southern honor set social expectations for behavior. For men, honor was linked to the patriotic act of volunteering for military service and sacrificing one’s life for the cause. Women expressed honor in a variety of ways on the home front and, specifically for this study, took on domestic duties that they were unaccustomed to as a result of their class. The intention of my research is to demonstrate how women from various classes of the American Civil War South reacted to the war through the lens of a woman’s perceived societal duty as it pertained to the concept of southern honor. External sources such as peer pressure, government officials and media served to remind these women of what was expected of them. In turn, I will explore how women deviated from these social values as the war progressed

Estimates from a Consumer Demand System: Implications for the Incidence of Environmental Taxes

Most studies suggest that environmental taxes are regressive, and thus are unattractive policy options. We consider the distributional effects of a gasoline tax increase using three welfare measures and under three scenarios for gas tax revenue use. To incorporate behavioral responses we use Consumer Expenditure Survey data to estimate a consumer demand system that includes gasoline, other goods, and leisure. We find that the gas tax is regressive, but that returning the revenue through a lump-sum transfer more than offsets this, yielding a net increase in progressivity. We also find that ignoring behavioral changes in distributional calculations overstates both the overall burden of the tax and its regressivity.

Empirical Estimates for Environmental Policy Making in a Second- Best Setting

This study estimates parameters necessary to calculate the optimal second-best gasoline tax, most notably the cross-price elasticity between gasoline and leisure. Prior work indicates that in a second-best setting with distortionary income taxes, both the cost of environmental regulation and the optimal environmental tax rate depend crucially on the cross-price elasticity between a polluting good and leisure. However, no prior study on second-best environmental regulation has estimated this elasticity. Using household data, we find that gasoline is a relative complement to leisure, and thus that the optimal gasoline tax is significantly higher than marginal damages–the opposite of the result suggested by the prior literature. Following this approach to estimate cross-price elasticities with leisure for other major polluting goods could strongly influence estimates of optimal environmental taxes.second-best environmental taxes, optimal taxes, tax interactions, demand system

Fiscal and Externality Rationales for Alcohol Taxes

This paper develops and implements an analytical framework for estimating the optimal levels and welfare effects of alcohol taxes and drunk-driver penalties, accounting for externalities and how policies interact with the broader fiscal system. We find that the fiscal component of the optimal alcohol tax exceeds the externality-correcting component under many parameter scenarios and assumptions about revenue recycling; overall, the optimal tax is anything from three to more than ten times the current tax. For more incremental reforms, however, welfare gains from stiffer drunk-driver fines and non-pecuniary penalties are larger, even though they involve implementation costs, possible first-order deadweight losses, and fiscal considerations play a minor role. In contrast to current practice, fiscal considerations warrant relatively heavier taxation of beer and relatively lighter taxation of spirits.alcohol tax, drunk-driver penalty, fiscal effects, external costs, welfare effects

Using Teacher Prompts to Increase Leadership Skills in Preschool Children

The purpose of the present study was to determine if teacher prompting could increase the frequency of leadership behaviors exhibited by preschool children during play and if teachers increased their level of prompting of leadership behaviors. Parten’s original 1933 framework defined the categories both directing and following; reciprocally directing or sharing leadership with another child; or directing the group in which the preschool children’s leadership behaviors were recorded. A review of the literature revealed prompts teachers could use to promote leadership skills in young children, which included modeling, helping others, completing tasks, praise, decision-making, and problem solving. Results indicated that two of three children increased their leadership behaviors in the category of directing and following, and all three children increased their leadership behaviors in the categories of reciprocally directing and sharing leadership with another child; and directing the group. Additionally, the teacher increased her level of prompting with all three children following training