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 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the NIST (formerly the National Bureau of Standards) serves as the Nation’s science and engineering laboratory for measurement technology and standards research.

Natural feature Any part of the landscape resulting from natural processes (such as a stream or ridge), in contrast to the activity of man. See also cultural feature, feature, visible feature.

NECMA See New England County Metropolitan Area.

Neighborhood A special-purpose entity delineated for the Census Bureau’s 1980 Neighborhood Statistics Program. Neighborhoods have locally defined boundaries, and the Census Bureau treated them as subareas within a legally defined governmental unit, usually an incorporated place or county.

New England County Metropolitan Area (NECMA) County-based areas defined by the Federal OMB to provide an alternative to the city- and town-based MSAs and CMSAs in New England. A NECMA includes the county containing the first-named place in an MSA/CMSA title (this county may include the first-named places of other MSAs or CMSAs), and each additional county having at least half its population in the MSA(s)/CMSA(s) whose first-named place is in the county identified in the previous step. NECMAs were first defined in 1975. See also consolidated metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, metropolitan statistical area.

NIST See National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Nonfunctioning governmental unit A legally defined governmental unit that does not have appointed or elected officials, raise revenues, or perform general purpose governmental activities such as enacting laws, entering into contracts, or providing services. The term usually refers to an entity established to administer a task assigned to another governmental unit. A nonfunctioning governmental unit is not classified as a government by the GlossaryG-35