An early alert and response system and method for identifying a public health risk stemming from an introduction of a chemical andor biological contaminant. An MPEG transport stream is received, including a plurality of packets. By monitoring the data valid signal, the time-stamp unit may synchronize a local state machine with the internal state of the gearbox circuitry and thus determine the total delay through the combined processing circuitry with high accuracy. The distance between the sliding surface and the crest of the thread decreases in the direction in which the filament is fed, in order to provide scoring of increasing depth on the filament. The method includes determining a QoS request level serving as a QoS level required for transmitting a real-time packet if a packet to be transmitted is a real-time packet, transmitting the determined QoS request level to a Radio Access Station, receiving the QoS level determined corresponding to the QoS request level from the RAS and setting the QoS level to correspond to the received QoS level. The gate electrode is formed over a channel region of a substrate to form a Schottky junction with the substrate.