Abstract: A system and method for providing an incentive to holders of financial accounts, e.g., prepaid account holders, to engage in certain activities with those accounts. Account holders may be provided an up-front incentive based on a commitment to engage in certain account activities in the future, such as to refrain from using a prepaid account for at least an agreed upon time period or to maintain a specified minimum balance for an agreed upon time period. If the account holder fails to satisfy his commitment, at least a portion of the value of the incentive may be charged to the prepaid customer account. Rewards provided to an account holder to encourage particular account activities may include merchandise rewards, discounts and rebates or entries into a lottery type drawing for prizes.

Abstract: A person-specific monitor that provides sensor information regarding hazards to which the person is exposed and means to geolocate the person at the time of the exposure. The monitor also includes means to communicate with a remote base station. Information from the monitor can be downloaded at the base station for long term storage and analysis. The base station can also include means to recharge the monitor.

Abstract: A method is described for fabricating integrated semiconductor circuits and, more particularly, for the selective deposition of a conductor onto a substrate employing a chemical vapor deposition process. By way of example, tungsten can be selectively deposited onto a silicon substrate. At the onset of loss of selectivity of deposition of tungsten onto the silicon substrate, the deposition process is interrupted and unwanted tungsten which has deposited on a mask layer with the silicon substrate can be removed employing a halogen etchant. Thereafter, a plurality of deposition/etch back cycles can be carried out to achieve a predetermined thickness of tungsten.