Sustainability indicators

Imagine a situation where, after debating for years on what makes you happy, you finally decide that it is about time you start put these ideas into practice and effectively make yourself happy(ier). If you are really determined, you will be keen to stop convincing yourself that you are happy if you are not: you will want to check whether you are really making progress towards achieving your goals. You will have identified different components of your happiness and will assess some of them, progressing cautiously, step by step. You will also be aware of the links between these components, links that determine your overall state of happiness. In the situation described above, now replace the term 'happiness' by that of 'sustainability' - like concepts such as justice, truth, or happiness indeed, it is a desirable objective, albeit difficult to capture in a concise, shared, definition

Cosmological distance indicators

We review three distance measurement techniques beyond the local universe: (1) gravitational lens time delays, (2) baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and (3) HI intensity mapping. We describe the principles and theory behind each method, the ingredients needed for measuring such distances, the current observational results, and future prospects. Time delays from strongly lensed quasars currently provide constraints on $H_0$ with < 4% uncertainty, and with 1% within reach from ongoing surveys and efforts. Recent exciting discoveries of strongly lensed supernovae hold great promise for time-delay cosmography. BAO features have been detected in redshift surveys up to z <~ 0.8 with galaxies and z ~ 2 with Ly-$\alpha$ forest, providing precise distance measurements and $H_0$ with < 2% uncertainty in flat $\Lambda$CDM. Future BAO surveys will probe the distance scale with percent-level precision. HI intensity mapping has great potential to map BAO distances at z ~ 0.8 and beyond with precisions of a few percent. The next years ahead will be exciting as various cosmological probes reach 1% uncertainty in determining $H_0$, to assess the current tension in $H_0$ measurements that could indicate new physics.Comment: Review article accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Springer), 45 pages, 10 figures. Chapter of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Ag

Physical Activity and Obesity Indicators: National Cross Sectional Study on Lebanese Adults

Association between higher levels of physical activity and lower rates of obesity has been shown. The aim is to assess the relation between the prevalence of physical activity and the Physical Activity Index (PAI) of 300 Lebanese healthy adults, with age, gender, occupation, body mass indices and waist circumferences (WC). The cutoff points of WC for both genders were determined using the values of Body Mass Index (BMI). A cross-sectional study using self-reported valid questionnaire was conducted randomly on 150 men and 150 women, between 18 and 74 years, from Beirut region. Association between variables was performed using chi2, T-Test and ANOVA. Linear regression determined the WC cutoffs based on BMI. 22% of the population was obese with WC mean level of 92.47±14.4cm (87.71±14.4 cm for women and 97.24±12.96 cm for men). The prevalence of physical activity was 34% in overall population (27% in women and 40% in men).There was no significant association between BMI values and PAI (p&lt; 0.085 for men and p&lt; 0.300 for women). However there was an inverse association between WC values and PAI in both genders (p&lt;0.043 in men and p&lt; 0.036 in women). Linear regression showed WC cut-off point in Lebanese women with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 and ≥30 kg/m2 of 86 cm and 100 cm respectively, whereas for men it was 92.12 cm and 105 cm respectively. The prevalence of physical activity in Beirut is low with differences among genders. The highest physical activity index is associated with the decreased values of waist circumference

Estimating the impact of public investment in the united Kingdom : Has the Golden Rule of Public Finance Made a Difference ?.

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VAT indicators

Under the current VAT system defined in the Sixth VAT Directive, Member States are required to have a single VAT rate of at least 15% and may have a maximum of two reduced VAT rates set no lower than 5%. Annex H of the 6 Directive outlines the list of the goods and services to which reduced rates could apply. However, this basic structure which applies to all Member States is complicated by the numerous individual temporary derogations granted to particular Member States. Most of these specific rates (zero rate, super reduced rates, parking rate and so on) are to be found under the title XVI Transitional provisions Article 28 of the 6 Directive and most have been granted until the entry into force of the "definitive system" of VAT based on taxation in the Member State of origin. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the application of the current VAT system to both VAT bases and rates among Member States. For the VAT bases, our indicators demonstrate the share of the base to which a specific VAT rate applies relative to the whole taxable base. For the VAT rates, focusing on the statutory standard VAT rate is not satisfactory. To take into account the existence of different VAT rates, we compute implicit VAT rates. These implicit VAT rates give an indication on the VAT burden. Our analysis shows that the standard VAT rate is far from applicable to the whole taxable base. In the year 2000, on average for the EU-15, 69% of the VAT taxable transactions value was taxed at the standard VAT rate. Moreover for some Member States, only around half of the taxable transactions were actually taxed at the standard VAT rate. Therefore, non-standard VAT rates are not the exception as they should be. Taking into account all VAT rates in force gives us an implicit VAT rate that is up to 30% lower than the standard rate in force in the Member States. In the year 2000, the EU-15 average for the statutory standard VAT rate was 19.4% with a minimum (compulsory) of 15% and a maximum of 25%. In contrast, the implicit VAT rate for the EU-15 was 15.9% with a larger volatility.VAT, European Union, Taxation, effective tax rates

Analysis of efficiency indicators

There are several variations of efficiency definitions and of course ratios concerned with efficiency. A better understanding of the notion of efficiency is critical to dissolve ambiguity about it. Many confuse efficiency with other supposedly synonymous notions such as profitability, successfulness, competitiveness, liquidity or productivity. This ambiguity originates not only in subjective reasons, but the lack of hierarchical order among certain ideas. The primary driver in our research is, to systematize efficiency in general, and formulate a new categorical approach of the efficiency in corporate level