What is claimed is:
1. A silicon nitride sintered material comprising:
a silicon nitride component and silicon carbide; wherein
said silicon nitride component comprises silicon nitride;
said silicon carbide is present in an amount such that a mass ratio of silicon carbide to the silicon nitride component is at least 1:100 and less than 4:100;
said silicon carbide has an average particle size of 1 m or less and is dispersed in the silicon nitride component; and
said sintered material has a thermal expansion coefficient of at least 3.7 ppm C. between room temperature and 1,000 C.
2. The silicon nitride sintered material according to claim 1, wherein the silicon nitride component contains a rare earth element in an amount of 15-25 mass % as reduced to a certain oxide thereof, and Cr in an amount of 5-10 mass % as reduced to a certain oxide thereof.
3. The silicon nitride sintered material according to claim 2, comprising an intergrain region and a crystalline phase present in the intergrain region of the sintered material.
4. A process for producing a silicon nitride sintered material, which comprises firing a raw material powder mixture containing a silicon nitride component and silicon carbide, wherein said silicon nitride component includes silicon nitride, said silicon carbide is present in an amount such that a mass ratio of silicon carbide to the silicon nitride component is at least 1:100 and less than 4:100, and said silicon carbide has an average particle size of 1 m or less.
5. The process for producing a silicon nitride sintered material according to claim 4, wherein said silicon nitride sintered material comprises an intergrain region and a crystalline phase which has precipitated in the intergrain region.
6. A glow plug comprising:
a ceramic base member comprising the silicon nitride sintered material of claim 1.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a computer based system for administering payment of bills, a selection of a bill associated with user information;
extracting, by the computer based system, an attribute from the user information;
selecting, by the computer based system, an advertisement based on the attribute; and
allocating, by the computer based system, an incentive based on the advertisement and in response to a distribution instruction.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bill is a healthcare bill.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertisement includes at least one of a product and a service associated with the health characteristic of the patient.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is provided from an electronic medical record, and wherein the attribute is a health characteristic of a patient.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising crediting, by the computer based system, the incentive to an account in response to the distribution instruction.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the account is configured to accumulate incentives that may be applied to bills.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising crediting, by the computer based system, the incentive to the bill in response to the distribution instruction.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
reducing, by the computer based system, an amount of the bill based on the in response to the distribution instruction; and
receiving, by the computer based system, a payment for the bill.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, by the computer based system, the advertisement for a predetermined amount of time.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, by the computer based system, a selection of the advertisement;
presenting, by the computer based system, an offer based on the advertisement for at least one of an item, wherein the item is associated with the attribute.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the incentive is a monetary value and wherein the monetary value predetermined portion of advertising revenue.
12. The method of claim 11., wherein the advertising revenue may be distributed among at least one of a payment system provider, a healthcare provider and a patient.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising, receiving, by the computer based system, the distribution instruction.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution instruction is a selection made by a user.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution instruction is a predetermined action established by the user.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the user information comprises a plurality of attributes, and wherein the attributes are compiled based on information received before a visit to a healthcare provider, during a visit to a healthcare provider, and after a visit to a healthcare provider.
17. The method of claim 1, Wherein attributes are collected through at least one of an instant messenger while a user is paying the bill, payment information, eligibility information, and estimation information.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement comprises a plurality of incentive offers.
19. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer based system for administering payment of bills, causes the computer based system to perform a method comprising:
receiving, by the computer based system, a selection of a bill associated with user information;
extracting, by the computer based system, an attribute from the user information;
selecting, by the computer based system, an advertisement based on the attribute; and
allocating, by the computer based system, an incentive based on the advertisement and in response to a distribution instruction.
20. A system comprising:
a network interface communicating with a memory;
the memory communicating with a processor for administering payment of bills; and
the processor, when executing a computer program, is configured to:
receive, by the processor, a selection of a bill associated with user information;
extract, by the processor, an attribute from the user information;
select, by the processor, an advertisement based on the attribute; and
allocate, by the processor, an incentive based on the advertisement and in response to a distribution instruction.