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ethane

(Encyclopedia)ethane ĕthˈān [key], CH3CH3, gaseous hydrocarbon. It is a continuous-chain alkane. As a constituent of natural gas, it is used for fuel. It can be prepared by cracking and fractional distillation o...

bitumen

(Encyclopedia)bitumen bĭtyo͞oˈmən [key] a generic term referring to flammable, brown or black mixtures of tarlike hydrocarbons, derived naturally or by distillation from petroleum. It can be in the form of a vi...

Asia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Asia āˈzhə [key], the world's largest continent 17,139,000 sq mi (44,390,000 sq km) and most populous (2015 est. pop. 4,419,898,000), with nearly three fifths of the world's total population...

Yamagata

(Encyclopedia)Yamagata, city (1990 pop. 249,487), capital of Yamagata prefecture, N Honshu, Japan. The city produces consumer goods, computer equipment, and cast metal and is the site of Yamagata Univ. Yamagata pre...

Watsonville

(Encyclopedia)Watsonville, city (1990 pop. 31,099), Santa Cruz co., W Calif., on the Pajaro River near Monterey Bay; founded 1852, inc. 1868. It is a trade and processing center for vegetables, fruits, berries, and...

Consumers' Union

(Encyclopedia)Consumers' Union, product testing and rating organization founded (1936) to provide consumers with information and counsel regarding major retail goods and services. Through its monthly Consumer Repor...

frijole

(Encyclopedia)frijole frēhōˈlē [key] [Span. fríjol ], in Mexico and the Spanish-American countries, any cultivated bean of the genus Phaseolus. The term frijole refers to the small, flat, black bean that ran...

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

(Encyclopedia)Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), specialized agency of the United Nations. Formed in 1988, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., it is a member of the World Bank Group (see Internatio...

commerce, in economics

(Encyclopedia)commerce, traffic in goods, usually thought of as trade between states or nations. Engaged in by all peoples from the earliest times, it has been carried on in some areas and by some peoples more than...

Nujoma, Sam

(Encyclopedia)Nujoma, Sam (Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma) no͞oyōˈmä [key], 1929–, Namibian political leader. A railway worker in what was then the South African mandate of South West Africa, Nujoma became ...