Key aspects necessary in resource management are defining the execution domain (address space) and the protection mechanism used to mediate access to the resources within a domain.[5] Kernels also provide methods for synchronization and inter-process communication (IPC). These implementations may be located within the kernel itself or the kernel can also rely on other processes it is running. Although the kernel must provide IPC in order to provide access to the facilities provided by each other, kernels must also provide running programs with a method to make requests to access these facilities. The kernel is also responsible for context switching between processes or threads.