An electrostatic actuator with an intrinsic stress gradient is provided. The securing device includes a resilient body from which first and second tabs extend. When a positive static electric charge is applied to the drain, a parasitic transistor appears that forms a route by way of which the static electric charge is discharged. The altered transmission rate improves the transmitter’s use of the available bandwidth to maintain an acceptable QoS at the receiver. With such an arrangement, policy management practices become more responsive, predictable and efficient. In one embodiment, a method includes generating, for a user-level thread to run on a thread unit that is not managed by an operating system, a storage area for local data and maintaining state in the storage area across a context switch from the thread unit that is not managed by the OS to a second thread unit that is managed by the OS.