ected hitting time from i to j. The general recurrence relation for the expected hitting time is as follows: H(j,f)in I +Pr.e+tH(j,i+1)+Pu -af(j,i- I)+ &NILO: (I) for j<f <L, with boundary condition HUI). 0. The interpreta- tion is as follows. Given the current state i, if i eV, at least one transition