The rear of the fuselage is also sculpted to sweep air into the engines using a process known as boundary-layer ingestion.

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The right actions may require workflow or process orchestration, whether manual or via software engines, to control the flow of work and to trigger the execution of human (or automated activities) at the right time.

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Then there is the next stage of the production process where the onboard equipment is installed and the engines fitted.

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The power production process is environmentally friendly and up to 30 percent efficient while typical internal combustion engines are 25 to 40 percent efficient.

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The power for the operation is supplied by the engines of a fleet of trucks, so this stage of the process can be noisy.

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But in the short term, researchers are working on reformers which produce hydrogen aboard vehicles by extracting the gas from methanol or other hydrocarbon fuels -- a process that can release pollutants, though at far lower levels than internal combustion engines, Roan said.

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In the process, diesel is becoming less of a dirty word a relic of Detroit's hastily converted petrol engines that were pressed into service as passenger diesels in the aftermath of the 1973 oil shock.

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