tem. The Efekta System was created by linguists and professors at EF’s own Research and Development Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Efekta System accelerates students’ ability to learn by combining personalized learning with highly qualified teaches and innovative state-of- the-art technology, using these five key components:

•Special interest classes (SPINS)

•iLAB

•Progress Tracker

•Lpod

•Learning Guarantee.

This revolutionary new way of learning has been developed exclusively for EF by the team of linguists and scientists. One of the great things about the Efekta System is that students can personalize their language course and achieve their goals. It provides a consistent learning experience from start to finish.

The wide range of Special Interest Classes (SPINS) offers something for everyone: from Business English to English for the Travel Industry to Film Criticism and more.With the wide range of SPINS proposed at all EF schools, students can truly customize their language course. Learning based in the students interests is one of the most effective ways to broaden your language skills. A customize course is ready for a student upon his or her arrival.

When one studies with EF he has the best teachers and technology. The students work in small groups with teachers, who spend most of the time helping them with conversational English. The Efekta System gives students time to practice their spoken English in class. The students also have the opportunity to work independently on-line in the iLAB, using one of the popular iLAB tools like the iSpeech Coach. The interactive exercises are fun, but quite challenging. The combination of teachers and technology allows the students to get most out of the education.

One can follow his own improvement with the iLAB Progress Tracker, which is updating continually. It monitors students’ progress in six areas: speech clarity, confidence, verbal expression, grammar accuracy, conversation range and listening.

The thing that makes the EF course really unique is the LPod. The LPod is a special part of the Efekta System that take the learning outside the classroom. It is handheld computer that gives students portable access to communication and language learning tools, from email to pronunciation tutor, including dictionary and city guides. The LPod has even got

a built in MP3 player and the iFlashcards are a fun way to practice whenever you feel like it.

EF guarantees that a student will advance one learning level every six weeks (or 12 weeks for higher levels).

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Thus the Efekta™ System integrates face-to-face learning with the latest in interactive technology, allowing its students to make faster progress while focusing on their unique needs and interests. With Efekta's powerful components one can learn all the time - in class with expert teachers, online in the innovative iLABs and even investigate the new city with the LPod. Benefit comes from EF own textbooks and curriculum that are synchronized with interactive on-line tutorials.

(Website www.ef.com).

TEXT 4.

THE CHANGING FACE OF UTILITY FORECASTING

Liberalisation is transforming the face of European energy markets. These newly formed competitive energy markets are driving a resurgence in energy forecasting tools that can predict accurately the demand for energy over the next hour, next day, next month or several years out.

Prior to market liberalisation, energy forecasting was used in three main ways: for systems operations, financial forecasting, and long-term capacity planning. European utilities continue to face these forecasting challenges as a central part of their business, but with liquid competitive energy markets the link between an accurate forecast and the financial impact on a company is much more visible. This visibility is driving utilities to retool their existing forecasting processes.

Systems operations. System operators are responsible for scheduling and dispatching generation to meet demand for electricity. To do their job it is necessary to have an estimate of what the demand for energy will be over the next five minutes to ten days ahead. The more accurate the demand estimate the more efficiently the system can be operated. Prior to the early 1980s, system operators relied heavily on the experience of the dispatcher to forecast demand. It was not unusual for a dispatcher to walk outside to observe the weather before making predictions. These knowledge-based methods worked well when the systems were under utilised and the corresponding cost of being wrong was small.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s many utilities saw an explosion of electrical using equipment driven by population growth and increased saturation of space conditioning, and new electronic devices. The growth of electric equipment meant many utilities were starting to operate near capacity. As a result, the benefit of getting the forecast right grew. This justified investment in new, more accurate forecasting methods and tools. Throughout the 1990s, the energy forecasting world was a buzz with terms such as multi-variate regression and advanced neural networks. Neural networks in particular were held out as the Holy Grail of short-term load forecasting.

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Liberalised markets compound system operations because dispatching is driven not only by the need to keep the lights on, but also to meet the needs of energy traders that sell power to markets willing to pay premium prices for power. As a result, European markets should see a level of wholesale energy wheeling never before experienced.

System operators that once could rely on a power plant to balance the system at peak periods, may no longer be able to rely on that generator since they may be wheeling power to other markets.

As a result, what was once a local demand forecasting challenge has become a region-wide demand and price forecasting problem. This challenge is further complicated by the push to sustain green power markets. Introducing wind generation into the portfolio of dispatchable generation requires accurate wind speed forecasts. Wholesale wheeling, market price based dispatching and wind generation are forecasting challenges created by liberalised markets.

Financial forecasting. Financial forecasting is used by utilities to forecast revenue from the power they plan to sell-something important to investors and for operational planning within the utility.

Financial forecasting begins with a monthly consumption forecast by customer class, with forecast horizons of one to three years ahead. These consumption forecasts are then translated into revenue, based on the prevailing rate structure that is a combination of fixed charges and fees based on consumption levels.

Similar to other industries, energy industry financial statements are typically constructed on a calendar month basis. Unfortunately, for the majority of a utility's customers -residential and small commercial-consumption is not measured this way. Consumption may be measured bi-monthly, quarterly, even annually. As result, financial forecasting requires a means for estimating calendar month consumption even though it may not be measured until one or more months after the fact. This is a classic problem faced by all utilities that have cycle-based metering.

With liberalisation, the financial forecasting problem faced by utilities is further complicated in two key ways.

•First, at the core of liberalisation is the notion that customers can choose their energy provider. This means utilities face a potentially ever shrinking customer base. The calendar-month consumption forecast now must take into account the utility's market share of customers.

•Second, liberalised markets allow for sub hourly market clearing prices for the energy commodity. Since the consumption of most residential and small commercial customers is not meter real-time constructing a bill that is based on sub-hourly market clearing prices is much more complicated. Utilities are implementing settlements systems that translate cycle read consumption into sub-hourly load values that can be priced.

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To address these financial forecasting challenges, there are several key advancements and trends taking place in the industry.

Recently, utilities have been combing realtime metering of a statistical sample of their customers with traditional statistical modelling approaches to improve their calendar-month consumption forecasts. In addition to improving the accuracy of the consumption forecast, real-time metering allows utilities to update their financial position on a daily basis. This means utilities can close the books on a month much sooner than was done in the past.

Other work is focused on accurately forecasting market share. Market share modelling has traditionally been used in other industries, but it is new for utilities. The modelling is complicated though, because liberalised markets are new, which means there is limited data to analyse.

Capacity planning. While systems operations and financial forecasting look at a relatively short time horizon-ranging from five minutes to three years' long-term planning anticipates maximum load demands as far out as seven or more years. This type of forecasting helps build an understanding of the loads that can be expected under extreme weather conditions. These weather conditions may only happen one out of 100 years, but utility planners must take into account worst-case scenarios when planning for new transmission and distribution capacity investment.

Traditionally, the forecasting problem was designed to forecast the annual system peak. For utilities with large geographic footprints the peak forecast might be developed for each major transmission zone. The annual peak number was then input into a transmission system simulation model that would identify potential bottlenecks in the system. These bottlenecks would be candidates for capacity expansion.

Recent industry trends have seen capacity planners adapting their tools to consider more and more temporal and geographic detail. In part, this is driven by market liberalisation because transmission capacity markets send a clear signal on the market value of an additional MW of transmission capacity. Available capacity along transmission bottlenecks that impede wholesale wheeling will carry a price premium.

At the same time, today's computing power allows planners to be savvy about evaluating potential capacity investments. A transmission line that is 50 per cent loaded 364 days out of the year and 90 per cent loaded one day of the year has a different return on investment profile then a line that is 90 per cent loaded 365 days a year. A single annual peak forecast would not be able to differentiate between these cases.

Wholesale wheeling has complicated the planning process to the extent that market prices are creating the need for transmission paths that were not required pre-liberalisation. As a result, the planning objective has expanded beyond ensuring sufficient capacity to meet design day conditions, to include ensuring sufficient capacity to support the wholesale market.

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Looking forward, as liberalised markets continue to evolve, energy forecasting remains an essential planning element for utilities. Liberalisation creates new forecasting challenges that affect energy market participants ranging from utilities, to energy traders, to market operators. But new forecasting systems have been developed that improve operations, help provide better service to customers and positively impact an organisation's financial bottom line.

These are exciting times for energy forecasters as they refine their forecasting methods and tools to meet the challenges of the European energy market.

(International Power Generation, May 2005).

TEXT 5.

ON THE LOOK OUT

In today's commercial environment, unplanned outages have a significant affect on revenues, and hence reliability, availability and maintainability of plant are key factors. Emergency response planning (ERP), combined with real-time monitoring can have significant beneficial impacts on unplanned and planned outage durations.

In simple terms, Unit Disaster Recovery is the failure of a component, requiring an unplanned outage, with the potential for significant time duration. Usually associated with such an outage are the supplies of major spares, which tend to form the critical path for repair.

There are three types of unit disaster recovery.

•A catastrophic event - requirement to rebuild a unit

•A major event - requirement for a unit to be dismantled, resulting in substantial repair time to replace the damaged component or components

•A minor event - repair can be carried out quickly, but still requires the unit to be shut down and taken off-line

Without ERP, the time at the start of an unplanned outage is associated with determining the spares required, the project plans, the resources required and the key decisions that need to be made. This time can be substantial and run into several days, if not weeks.

The principle is that when a failure occurs, high-unplanned costs are incurred. With ERP, a risk analysis of the plant is undertaken and all the major risk scenarios, together with other typical failure scenarios are preplanned, with resources, contract materials, consumables and tooling all identified with plans in place to support the event.

Emergency Response Plan. Four main principles are critical to the success of ERP:

•A committed, communicated and agreed plan that is supported by resources and spares

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•A road map of actions and responsibilities

•A pre-prepared parts list, quality assurance and repair procedures for each failure condition

•An identified need for specialist equipment and resources

In its simplest form, ERP is a series of 'what if scenarios, developed from an understanding of the plant condition. Each scenario is pre-planned with a risk assessment and project programmes jointly agreed between the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and the customer, including the identification of resources required by both parties.

It is important that the OEM and the customer work together to ensure that all the necessary decision points are covered, and all the necessary information is in place to effectively execute the ERP.

Typically this includes all quality assurance documentation, site procedures and method statements, risk assessments, customer work order cards, permits and other like documentation.

Structured planning. The structure of ERP is simple and effective. The first part consists of tailored flow charts that identify key decision points, master process flow diagrams, first actions to be carried out, project organisations, communication channels and commercial arrangements.

The second part consists of several volumes, each representing an individual failure scenario. Typical contents include, failure identification, recovery location (where the component will be repaired), recovery process (flow charts and recovery route), recovery programme, technical documentation, parts lists, consumables, tooling resource schedule and recommendations for risk mitigation.

The benefits of ERP are highlighted from a recent case study - 1,200MW, 4 pole generator with inter-turn short circuits.

The unit in question had previously operated reliably, without fault for a number of years. This changed during April 2003, and again during October 2003, when the Unit 3 generator exhibited a step increase in shaft vibrations.

The first step increase was 2.2mm/s zero-pk, and the second was 3.1 mm/s zero-pk. This gave the machine an overall vibration level of 11.0mm/s zero-pk - an unacceptable condition for long-term service.

On both occasions, the step changes in vibration were associated with severe grid disturbances, and large negative sequence currents initiated the switchyard recording data.

The thermal sensitivity test was carried out to establish whether the problem was mechanical or thermally induced. This was combined with the flux probe data that revealed four interturn short circuits were present within the winding. The sensitivity test showed that the vibrations were sensitive to excitation current, and hence thermally induced, in this case caused by interturn short circuits.

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Real time monitoring. The customer, in conjunction with Alstom, implemented ERP. This was combined with real time monitoring of the rotor flux waveform, which established the condition of the rotor winding, and was able to trend the insulation condition over time.

ERP was developed for the rotor, and consisted of every possible component that would be required to repair the four interturn short circuits. Included in the planning was a detailed flow chart of the key decision points, the material lists required, the specialised tooling, and all the resources required to execute a partial rewind of a rotor on site.

In total, ERP identified that the rotor could be repaired within a 14-day window, excluding disassembly and reassembly of the machine. The total outage duration was 28 days breaker to breaker.

Although the ERP package had identified all the potential failure scenarios, it had also highlighted some significant gaps in strategic spares holdings. The rotor was operating at high risk, and therefore the customer decided to procure a set of spare parts to cover for the eventuality of the machine failing in service.

This demonstrates the benefit of implementing an ERP in this type of situation. Had the machine failed in service, although the plans would have been in place, the critical spares would not. This would have delayed the repair time, in this instance, by up to 8 weeks, which was unacceptable to the customer.

To demonstrate the benefits of ERP, it is necessary to compare the case study above to a similar situation, requiring similar scopes of work, which had not adopted this philosophy.

The customer, without ERP, suffered an earth fault of the generator rotor due to three interturn short circuits. In this case the rotor did not have continuous condition monitoring, and the rotor failed in service (compared to the example above which did not), and had to be removed for rectification and repair. The customer had already procured a strategic spare rotor, but had not identified all the necessary components required to fit the rotor into the unit.

Consequently, procurement of the necessary spares, and the decision to repair some damaged components meant that the outage duration approached 50 days. If ERP had been applied all the necessary components, method statements and risk assessments would be in place to reduce the repair outage to the order of 28 days, as achieved in the case study above.

Cost savings. ERP offers substantial benefits to operators in terms of reliability, availability and maintainability of their plant - resulting in significant cost savings.

This has already been proven for one proactive operator who managed to save approximately £15.8 million (US$30m approx.) in lost revenue (based on the unit operating at full load with the average spot price being

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£25/MWh ($47.5/MWh)) through implementing both real time continuous monitoring and planning for the unexpected.

The ERP process is an invaluable tool that can be used to support both maintenance and asset management strategies.

(International Power Generation, May 2005)

TEXT 6.

CHRISTCHURCH

Maori oral history suggests that people first inhabited the Canterbury area about a thousand years ago. These early moa-hunting tribes were followed by the Waitaha, thought to have migrated from the east coast of the North Island to the Pegasus Bay area of Canterbury early in the 16th century. They were joined later by other northern tribes Ngati Mamoe and Ngai Tahu, with migration continuing until about 1830.

The first European landed in Canterbury in 1815, 45 years after Captain James Cook sighted what he named 'Banks Island', later found to actually be a peninsula. In 1840 the first Europeans arrived to settle on the plains and whaling ships were operating out of Lyttelton by 1850. It was not until 1850 – 1851 that organised groups of English settlers, the founders of Christchurch, arrived in Lyttelton in four ships: Charlotte Jane, Sir George Seymour, Randolph and Cressy.

Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on July 31, 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.

Christchurch is the only place in the world where within two hours of an international airport you can ski at a world class alpine resort, play golf, bungy jump, go rafting, mountain biking, hot-air ballooning, wind surfing, whale watching and visit world class wineries and gardens.

Christchurch is bordered by hills and the Pacific Ocean, and is situated on the edge of the Canterbury plains stretching to the Southern Alps. It is centred in an area of tremendous geographical contrast.

Summers are generally mild and sunny with low humidity. The city has an average of over 2,000 hours of annual sunshine. Winter visitors can encounter frosts which develop to clear, calm days. Autumn often has the longest period of settled weather and, for garden lovers, the city puts on an especially fine show in spring.

Much of the city's area has been set aside for parks, natural reserves and recreation grounds. It is these, together with Christchurch's splendid private gardens, which give the city much of its essential character.

The city centre is comfortingly compact and the most delightful central feature is the gently winding Avon river. On its grassy banks lined with poplars and weeping willows, office workers and visitors join the street entertainers, seagulls and ducks for lunch in the sun.

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Christchurch's special character is most obvious in its glorious parks and gardens, which led it to win an International Garden City Award. A huge range of recreation attractions offers a variety of things to do and see, and visitors can enjoy active or more leisurely pursuits the whole year round.

There is never a dull moment in this very special city. From art galleries to theatres, weekend markets to museums, there is a tempting taste of Christchurch's unique culture at every turn.

The Arts Centre, Christchurch Art Gallery, and the Town Hall all provide a focus for the lively arts and entertainment scene, whilst a leisurely tram ride through the city's historic heart, a hot air balloon flight, or a trip on the Gondola will reveal Christchurch in a whole new light. And because having fun is such a priority, there is a host of varied and exciting attractions: Air Force Museum, Science Alive, Ferrymead Heritage Park, Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House, and the International Antarctic Centre are the ultimate in fun learning experiences, whilst for animal lovers, Qrana Park and Willowbank are a must. For a change of pace, try a relaxing game of golf, then visit one of the excellent cafe bars and restaurants or experience exclusive shopping in the city centre. Finish off with an evening at the popular Christchurch Casino and you will have captured the essence of Christchurch.

Throughout the year Christchurch celebrates over a dozen festivals which provide a wealth of cultural and entertainment diversity.

Festivals with themes of music, the arts, books, heritage, buskers, floral displays and local produce all provide a focus for the city's celebrations, whether planned or spontaneous. Spring brings Showtime Canterbury, featuring national racing events and the region's traditional agricultural and pastoral show. Summer heralds the Summer-Times festival, with a host of free outdoor events, including the hugely popular Classical Sparks. Late summer and early autumn are the time to celebrate romance, food and drink ... and of course, you can't have a winter in Christchurch without enjoying KidsFest.

Christchurch is home to the University of Canterbury, Lincoln University, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, College of Education, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences (part of the University of Otago). There are also a number of flourishing English language institutes. The city has more than 120 primary and intermediate schools and 30 secondary schools.

Christchurch is home to a broad range of business activity as well. There is a strong stream of established and emerging industries that include manufacturing, software development, tourism, light industrial engineering, electronics and education which complement the Canterbury region's traditional strengths in primary produce: vegetables, specialist horticultural produce, grains, grapes, meat, dairy products, wool, aquaculture and timber.

The five tertiary education institutions and sixteen research centres offer an excellent research and development base ensuring the region is tech-

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nology-advanced by international standards. A stable and educated labour force complements this R & D base.

An international airport, deep harbour port, radial road and rail links make Christchurch the main distribution centre for the South Island. Enhanced international status and economic benefits also accrue from the city's position as Gateway to the Antarctic.

(Website www.christchurch.org.nz).

TEXT 7.

THE BEST FOCUS

Concept cars tend to fall into two categories: those incredible futuristic cars that end their days in companies' museums; the other is a real prototype of future models that are just one step from production. The new Focus by Ford will be on sale next year. A surprise concept named La Collection Focus based on the new generation of Ford Focus cars awaited visitors of the Paris Car Show at the Ford stand. Designer Ihab Kaud, responsible for the development of the model, describes his idea as an elegant car with two «faces». It combines both contemporary trends and a special style that hints at classic Italian sports cars.

The Focus Vignale Concept is a combination of the design themes revealing the potential of new European Ford models with which the company wants to enter new markets. The appearance of the Vignale Concept was inspired by the works of famous Italian designer Alfredo Vignale in honour of whom the car has been named. This man takes a special place in Ford's European history, in the 1950s and 1960s his company Carrozzeria Vignale created many stylish sports cars, and in 1969 it became a part of the Ford Motor Company, joining De Tomaso Automobili. The transformation of a car into a cabriolet emphasises the importance of construction quality and the materials used to furnish the interior. It is all topped off with the designer themes taken from the best period of the well-known Italian sports cars. One of them is the gentle shape of the door handle. Reminiscent of the lines Vignale used in his best «spiders» in the 1960s, it is made from polished aluminium in the form of a curved rhombus. However, unlike its prototype from the last century the handle has a button that opens the electronic lock. The expressive lines and brave use of volumes correspond to the architecture of the latest Focus models. This has given the design team that constructed the car an unprecedented opportunity to create a very attractive coupe in the golf class.

The aspects that are usually needed when designing a cabriolet with a rigid folding roof did not compromise the design. The basic approach was that the car should be beautiful as a coupe first of all. In many parts of Europe customers who like that kind of car will ride with the roof up most of

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