Let A be a Las Vegas algorithm, i.e., A is a randomized algorithm that always produces the correct answer when it stops but whose running time is a random variable. In 1] a method was developed for minimizing the expected time required to obtain an answer from A using sequential strategies which simulate A as follows: run A for a xed amount of time t 1 , then run A independently for a xed amoun...

Emerging economies are often exposed to sudden shortages of international financial resources. Yet domestic agents do not seem to take preventive measures against these sudden stops. We highlight the central role played by the limited development of ex ante (insurance) and ex post (spot) domestic financial markets in generating this collective undervaluation of international resources. We study...

THE BRAIN IS SPONTANEOUSLY ACTIVE Surprisingly, the brain uses about 20% of the body’s energy at all times. That’s right: about one-fifth of everything you eat is for your brain. Figure 1 shows the energy consumption of the upper body and head. The dark areas show body parts that use a lot of energy while resting without movement. The brain uses a lot of energy, so it appears very dark in the i...

The use of trading stops is a common practice in financial markets for a variety of reasons: it reduces the frequency of trading and thereby transaction costs; it provides a simple way to control losses on a given trade, while also ensuring that profit-taking is not deferred indefinitely; and it allows opportunities to consider reallocating resources to other investments. In this paper, we try ...

This paper investigates the phonetics and phonology of stop consonant allophony in the Mayan language Tz’utujil (Guatemala; ∼ 70,000 speakers). Tz’utujil, like Mayan languages more generally, contrasts plain voiceless stops with a glottalized stop series. The allophonic realization of this laryngeal state contrast varies dramatically by context, with prevocalic stops showing starkly different p...

Glottal stops are sounds produced by the closing and abrupt opening of the vocal folds. In German, glottal stops are frequent before word-initial vowels and are a salient word-linking technique. For this reason, German speakers can transfer this word-linking habit to their English productions. Neither in English nor in German are glottal stops phonemes, i.e. they cannot differentiate word meani...

1 Introduction The phonetic or articulatory difference impedes the perception of certain English sounds produced by native Japanese speakers; English voiceless stops fall under this category of sounds. English voiceless stops are characterized by aspiration in articulation, whereas their Japanese counterparts are known to be unaspirated. As Cruttenden (2001) and Jenkins (2000) point out to lear...

This longitudinal study examined individual patterns and changes in /s/ + stop cluster simplifications of six normally developing children. Subjects produced selected words containing initial voiced and voiceless stops and /s/ + stop clusters at monthly intervals. Speech samples were transcribed phonetically, and voice onset times (VOT) of the stop consonants were measured. The results revealed...

This paper presents the results of an investigation of the fortis-lenis contrast in Fenno-Swedish stops. The data show that in utterance-initial position, the two-way contrast is realised as a contrast between unaspirated and prevoiced stops. Word-medially and finally, the contrast is that of voiceless, unaspirated stops and fully voiced stops. Fenno-Swedish is thus another Germanic language, l...

Human awareness in robot motion planning is crucial for seamless interaction with humans. Many existing techniques slow down, stop, or change the robot's trajectory locally to avoid collisions Although using information on human's state path phase could reduce future interference movements and make safety stops less frequent, such an approach widespread. This paper proposes a novel embedding hu...