Public Sector Deficits and Macroeconomic Performance in Lebanon: A Simulation Analysis

The main aims of this paper are as follows. First, to macro model prospective development in the Lebanese economy for policy analysis and evaluation. This study develops s a dynamic macroeconomic model for Lebanon including the budget deficit and the funding of it (e.g. by monetary accommodation or bond financing), as well as the composition of government expenditures (capital or current). Hence this paper develops behavioural equations not used before for Lebanon. This macroeconomic model is utilised as well to analyse the effects of exogenous shocks arising from increased government expenditures (capital expenditure or consumption expenditure) upon key macroeconomic variables. The second aim of this study is the application of a simulation analysis to the Lebanese economy, which suffers from fiscal deficits and public debt during last few decades. This study conducts a numerical simulation analysis of the macroeconomic model developed, in order to analyse a number of economic policies in the context of the Lebanese fiscal crisis with the aim of improving the country’s macroeconomic performance. The major findings from the simulation results presented in this study are that, implementing the policy of expansion in government capital expenditure, for two presumed cases (unanticipated/gradual), produces larger favourable impacts (in comparison with the policy of expansion in government consumption expenditure) upon Lebanese economic development in terms of private sector investment, and in terms of the supply side of the economy (crowding in effects) during the whole adjustment process towards long run steady state. Implementing the policy of an expansion in government consumption expenditure produces unfavourable effects in terms of external developments during the adjustment process. This policy produces, as well, unfavourable effect in terms of private investment and aggregate supply (crowding out effect). However, the simulation results for the two policies show that money deficit financing is inflationary and shows large sensitivity in terms of the interest rate. Bond financing is non inflationary and shows little sensitivity in terms of interest rates. The main finding is that if the government considers a fiscal expansion policy in order to improve macroeconomic performance, the simulation results suggest that the government should adopt the policy of an expansion in capital expenditure because it produces the most desirable outcomes. In addition, it should adopt a gradual approach because this produces considerably less volatility in terms of major macro variables. The main findings from our simulation results dealing with the government approach to the fiscal crisis, does not support the government policy in dealing with the crisis. The results presented here suggest that it produces the most undesirable economic outcomes, and hence will only exacerbate Lebanon’s economic difficulties.Public sector deficits, macroeconomic performance, Lebanon, simulation analysis

Investigating inter-turn fault in transformer using TTR and FRA

Transformers are one of the significant elements in the power system network. The Transformer function is to step up and down the voltages. When the transformer operating in high load, it exposes to failures. There are various transformer failures which could have a serious effect on the transformer efficiency. For example, winding deformation, tap changer damage, and short turns (inter-turn fault). The transformer inter-turns fault reduces the number of turns in the winding. To detect inter-turn fault, the transformer turn ratio test is the basic method used. On the other hand, frequency response analysis has been recognized to monitor the mechanical condition of the transformer winding. The frequency response analysis method can be conducted in four measurement connection. They are end to end open circuit test, end to end short circuit test, capacitive inter-winding, and inductive inter-winding. The inductive inter-winding low-frequency region is determined by the transformer turn ratio. This statement was mentioned in CIGRE A2.26. However, there are not approved studies on this issue. This study investigates the transformer inter-turn fault using transformer turn ratio test and frequency response analysis. In addition, this study performs various of statistical indicators on the FRA results. The statistical indicators are used to detect the variation between the normal and inter-turn fault responses. Also, this study proposes statistical indicators limits. After that compare the FRA and TTR results and check if the turn ratio results can be obtained using FRA inductive inter-winding test. Findings that FRA inductive inter-winding test can detect inter-turn fault. This can be determined by the absolute sum logarithmic error (ASLE), mean square error (MSE), and standard deviation (SD). Also, there are indicator limits has been proposed for ALSE and SD. This study finding helps to use the frequency response analysis method to replace the conventional turn ratio test

Communication-Aware Computing for Edge Processing

We consider a mobile edge computing problem, in which mobile users offload their computation tasks to computing nodes (e.g., base stations) at the network edge. The edge nodes compute the requested functions and communicate the computed results to the users via wireless links. For this problem, we propose a Universal Coded Edge Computing (UCEC) scheme for linear functions to simultaneously minimize the load of computation at the edge nodes, and maximize the physical-layer communication efficiency towards the mobile users. In the proposed UCEC scheme, edge nodes create coded inputs of the users, from which they compute coded output results. Then, the edge nodes utilize the computed coded results to create communication messages that zero-force all the interference signals over the air at each user. Specifically, the proposed scheme is universal since the coded computations performed at the edge nodes are oblivious of the channel states during the communication process from the edge nodes to the users.Comment: To Appear in ISIT 201

Communication Through Collisions: Opportunistic Utilization of Past Receptions

When several wireless users are sharing the spectrum, packet collision is a simple, yet widely used model for interference. Under this model, when transmitters cause interference at any of the receivers, their collided packets are discarded and need to be retransmitted. However, in reality, that receiver can still store its analog received signal and utilize it for decoding the packets in the future (for example, by successive interference cancellation techniques). In this work, we propose a physical layer model for wireless packet networks that allows for such flexibility at the receivers. We assume that the transmitters will be aware of the state of the channel (i.e. when and where collisions occur, or an unintended receiver overhears the signal) with some delay, and propose several coding opportunities that can be utilized by the transmitters to exploit the available signal at the receivers for interference management (as opposed to discarding them). We analyze the achievable throughput of our strategy in a canonical interference channel with two transmitter-receiver pairs, and demonstrate the gain over conventional schemes. By deriving an outer-bound, we also prove the optimality of our scheme for the corresponding model.Comment: Accepted to IEEE INFOCOM 2014. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1301.530