α‐Resolvable group divisible designs with block size three

A group divisible design GD(k,λ,t;tu) is α‐resolvable if its blocks can be partitioned into classes such that each point of the design occurs in precisely α blocks in each class. The necessary conditions for the existence of such a design are λt(u ? 1) = r(k ? 1), bk = rtu, k|αtu and α|r. It is shown in this paper that these conditions are also sufficient when k = 3, with some definite exceptions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Resolutions of PG(5, 2) with point‐cyclic automorphism group

A t‐(υ, k, λ) design is a set of υ points together with a collection of its k‐subsets called blocks so that all subsets of t points are contained in exactly λ blocks. The d‐dimensional projective geometry over GF(q), PG(d, q), is a 2‐(q^d + q^d−1 + … + q + 1, q + 1, 1) design when we take its points as the points of the design and its lines as the blocks of the design. A 2‐(υ, k, 1) design is said to be resolvable if the blocks can be partitioned as ℛ = {R₁, R₂, …, R_s}, where s = (υ − 1)/(k−1) and each R_i consists of υ/k disjoint blocks. If a resolvable design has an automorphism σ which acts as a cycle of length υ on the points and ℛ^σ = ℛ, then the design is said to be point‐cyclically resolvable. The design associated with PG(5, 2) is known to be resolvable and in this paper, it is shown to be point‐cyclically resolvable by enumerating all inequivalent resolutions which are invariant under a cyclic automorphism group G = 〈σ〉 where σ is a cycle of length 63. These resolutions are the only resolutions which admit a point‐transitive automorphism group. Furthermore, some necessary conditions for the point‐cyclic resolvability of 2‐(υ, k, 1) designs are also given. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 8: 2–14, 2000     

On the existence of cycle frames and almost resolvable cycle systems

Suppose H is a complete m-partite graph K_m(n₁,n₂,…,n_m) with vertex set V and m independent sets G₁,G₂,…,G_m of n₁,n₂,…,n_m vertices respectively. Let G={G₁,G₂,…,G_m}. If the edges of λH can be partitioned into a set C of k-cycles, then (V,G,C) is called a k-cycle group divisible design with index λ, denoted by (k,λ)-CGDD. A (k,λ)-cycle frame is a (k,λ)-CGDD (V,G,C) in which C can be partitioned into holey 2-factors, each holey 2-factor being a partition of V?G_i for some G_i∈G. Stinson et al. have resolved the existence of (3,λ)-cycle frames of type g^u. In this paper, we show that there exists a (k,λ)-cycle frame of type g^u for k∈{4,5,6} if and only if , , u≥3 when k∈{4,6}, u≥4 when k=5, and (k,λ,g,u)≠(6,1,6,3). A k-cycle system of order n whose cycle set can be partitioned into (n−1)/2 almost parallel classes and a half-parallel class is called an almost resolvable k-cycle system, denoted by k-ARCS(n). Lindner et al. have considered the general existence problem of k-ARCS(n) from the commutative quasigroup for . In this paper, we give a recursive construction by using cycle frames which can also be applied to construct k-ARCS(n)s when . We also update the known results and prove that for k∈{3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,14} there exists a k-ARCS(2kt+1) for each positive integer t with three known exceptions and four additional possible exceptions.     

On symmetric nets and generalized Hadamard matrices from affine designs

Symmetric nets are affine resolvable designs whose duals are also affine. It is shown that. up to isomorphism, there are exactly four symmetric (3, 3)-nets (v=b=27,k=9), and exactly two inequivalent 9×9 generalized Hadamard matrices over the group of order 3. The symmetric (3, 3)-nets are found as subnets of affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs. Ten of the 68 non-isomorphic affine resolvable 2-(27, 9, 4) designs are not extensions of symmetric (3, 3)-subnets, providing the first examples of affine 2-(q³, q², q²–1/q–1) designs without symmetric (q, q)-subnets.     

A Construction for Resolvable Designs and Its Generalizations

 In [14], D.K. Ray-Chaudhuri and R.M. Wilson developed a construction for resolvable designs, making use of free difference families in finite fields, to prove the asymptotic existence of resolvable designs with index unity. In this paper, generalizations of this construction are discussed. First, these generalizations, some of which require free difference families over rings in which there are some units such that their differences are still units, are used to construct frames, resolvable designs and resolvable (modified) group divisible designs with index not less than one. Secondly, this construction method is applied to resolvable perfect Mendelsohn designs. Thirdly, cardinalities of such sets of units are investigated. Finally, composition theorems for free difference families via difference matrices are described. They can be utilized to produce some new examples of resolvable designs.     

A. translation of J. X. Lu's “an existence theory for resolvable balanced incomplete block designs”

In 1984, J. X. Lu proved the following statement. Given any k and λ, there exists a constant c(k, λ) such that an RB[v,k,λ] exists for all v > c(k,λ) satisfying the usual necessary conditions. Lu's paper was written in Chinese and, unfortunately, its accessibility is limited. We have translated Lu's paper into English and have also given a new interpretation of his constructions for resolvable block designs. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The existence of NRB[v,k] where k + 1 is an even prime power

The existence of NRB[v,k] where k ≥ 7 and k + 1 is an even prime power is considered. We will show that there exists an NRB[kn + 1, k] for all n > (3k)^b-1(kb)^3kb(b-1)+1, where k + 1 is an even prime power, k ≥ 7 and . The tools used to construct this bound include the frames extracted from a construction of J. X. Lu's for resolvable balanced incomplete block designs © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 6:43–49, 1998     

The spectrum of additive BIB designs

In this article, the existence of additive BIB designs is discussed with direct and recursive constructions, together with investigation of a property of resolvability. Such designs can be used to construct infinite families of BIB designs. In particular, we obtain a series of B(sⁿ, ts^m, λt (ts^m ? 1) (s^n‐m ? 1)/[2(s^m ? 1)]) for any positive integer λ, such that sⁿ (sⁿ ? 1) λ ≡ 0 (mod s^m (s^m ? 1) and for any positive integer t with 2 ≤ t ≤ s^n‐m, where s is an odd prime power. Connections between additive BIB designs and other combinatorial objects such as multiply nested designs and perpendicular arrays are discussed. A construction of resolvable BIB designs with v = 4k is also proposed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 15: 235–254, 2007     

Group‐divisible designs with block size k having k + 1 groups,for k = 4, 5

We investigate the spectrum for k‐GDDs having k + 1 groups, where k = 4 or 5. We take advantage of new constructions introduced by R. S. Rees (Two new direct product‐type constructions for resolvable group‐divisible designs, J Combin Designs, 1 (1993), 15–26) to construct many new designs. For example, we show that a resolvable 4‐GDD of type g⁵ exists if and only if g ≡ 0 mod 12 and that a resolvable 5‐GDD of type g⁶ exists if and only if g ≡ 0 mod 20. We also show that a 4‐GDD of type g⁴m¹ exists (with m > 0) if and only if g ≡ m ≡ 0 mod 3 and 0 < m ≤ 3g/2, except possibly when (g,m) = (9,3) or (18,6), and that a 5‐GDD of type g⁵m¹ exists (with m > 0) if and only if g ≡ m ≡ 0 mod 4 and 0 < m ≤ 4g/3, with 32 possible exceptions. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 8: 363–386, 2000     

Unifying some known infinite families of combinatorial 3-designs

In this paper we present a construction of 3-designs by using a 3-design with resolvability. The basic construction generalizes a well-known construction of simple 3-(v,4,3) designs by Jungnickel and Vanstone (1986). We investigate the conditions under which the designs obtained by the basic construction are simple. Many infinite families of simple 3-designs are presented, which are closely related to some known families by Iwasaki and Meixner (1995), Laue (2004) and van Tran (2000, 2001). On the other hand, the designs obtained by the basic construction possess various properties: A theory of constructing simple cyclic 3-(v,4,3) designs by Köhler (1981) can be readily rebuilt from the context of this paper. Moreover many infinite families of simple resolvable 3-designs are presented in comparison with some known families. We also show that for any prime power q and any odd integer n there exists a resolvable 3-(qn+1,q+1,1) design. As far as the authors know, this is the first and the only known infinite family of resolvable t-(v,k,1) designs with t?3 and k?5. Those resolvable designs can again be used to obtain more infinite families of simple 3-designs through the basic construction.     

An enumeration of graphical designs

Let Ψ(t,k) denote the set of pairs (v,λ) for which there exists a graphical t‐(v,k,λ) design. Most results on graphical designs have gone to show the finiteness of Ψ(t,k) when t and k satisfy certain conditions. The exact determination of Ψ(t,k) for specified t and k is a hard problem and only Ψ(2,3), Ψ(2,4), Ψ(3,4), Ψ(4,5), and Ψ(5,6) have been determined. In this article, we determine completely the sets Ψ(2,5) and Ψ(3,5). As a result, we find more than 270,000 inequivalent graphical designs, and more than 8,000 new parameter sets for which there exists a graphical design. Prior to this, graphical designs are known for only 574 parameter sets. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 16: 70–85, 2008     

Resolvable Coverings of 2-Paths by Cycles

 Let K _n be the complete graph on n vertices. A C(n,k,λ) design is a multiset of k-cycles in K _n in which each 2-path (path of length 2) of K _n occurs exactly λ times. A C(lk,k,1) design is resolvable if its k-cycles can be partitioned into classes so that every vertex appears exactly once in each class. A C(n,n,1) design gives a solution of Dudeney's round table problem. It is known that there exists a C(n,n,1) design when n is even and there exists a C(n,n,2) design when n is odd. In general the problem of constructing a C(n,n,1) design is still open when n is odd. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of C(n,k,λ) designs and resolvable C(lk,k,1) designs are known when k=3,4. In this paper, we construct a resolvable C(n,k,1) design when n=p ^e +1 ( p is a prime number and e≥1) and k is any divisor of n with k≠1,2. Received: October, 2001 Final version received: September 4, 2002 RID="*" ID="*" This research was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) Japan     

Constructions for near resolvable designs and BIBDs

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it is shown that classical inversive planes of even order can be used to construct a class of 2—(2²ⁿ + 1, 2ⁿ, 2ⁿ—1) near resolvable designs, in which any two blocks have at most 2 points in common. Secondly, it is shown that a recursive construction method for BIBDs using resolvable BIBDs due to Shrikhande and Raghavarao can be extended by using near resolvable designs. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 7: 227–231, 1999     

Existence of resolvable optimal strong partially balanced designs

We shall refer to a strong partially balanced design SPBD(v,b,k;λ,0) whose b is the maximum number of blocks in all SPBD(v,b,k;λ,0), as an optimal strong partially balanced design, briefly OSPBD(v,k,λ). Resolvable strong partially balanced design was first formulated by Wang, Safavi-Naini and Pei [Combinatorial characterization of l-optimal authentication codes with arbitration, J. Combin. Math. Combin. Comput. 37 (2001) 205-224] in investigation of l-optimal authentication codes. This article investigates the existence of resolvable optimal strong partially balanced design ROSPBD(v,3,1). We show that there exists an ROSPBD(v,3,1) for any v?3 except v=6,12.     

A few more Kirkman squares and doubly near resolvable BIBDs with block size 3

A Kirkman square with index λ, latinicity μ, block size k, and v points, KS_k(v;μ,λ), is a t×t array (t=λ(v-1)/μ(k-1)) defined on a v-set V such that (1) every point of V is contained in precisely μ cells of each row and column, (2) each cell of the array is either empty or contains a k-subset of V, and (3) the collection of blocks obtained from the non-empty cells of the array is a (v,k,λ)-BIBD. In a series of papers, Lamken established the existence of the following designs: KS₃(v;1,2) with at most six possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of doubly resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 72 (1995) 50-76], KS₃(v;2,4) with two possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of KS₃(v;2,4)s, Discrete Math. 186 (1998) 195-216], and doubly near resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs with at most eight possible exceptions [E.R. Lamken, The existence of doubly near resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs, J. Combin. Designs 2 (1994) 427-440]. In this paper, we construct designs for all of the open cases and complete the spectrum for these three types of designs. In addition, Colbourn, Lamken, Ling, and Mills established the spectrum of KS₃(v;1,1) in 2002 with 23 possible exceptions. We construct designs for 11 of the 23 open cases.     

Primitive symmetric designs with prime power number of points

In this paper we either prove the non‐existence or give explicit construction of primitive symmetric (v, k, λ) designs with v=p^m<2500, p prime and m>1. The method of design construction is based on an automorphism group action; non‐existence results additionally include the theory of difference sets, multiplier theorems in particular. The research involves programming and wide‐range computations. We make use of software package GAP and the library of primitive groups which it contains. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 141–154, 2010     

A class of group divisible 3‐designs and their applications

In this article, we first show that a group divisible 3‐design with block sizes from {4, 6}, index unity and group‐type 2^m exists for every integer m≥ 4 with the exception of m = 5. Such group divisible 3‐designs play an important role in our subsequent complete solution to the existence problem for directed H‐designs DH_λ(m, r, 4, 3)s. We also consider a way to construct optimal codes capable of correcting one deletion or insertion using the directed H‐designs. In this way, the optimal single‐deletion/insertion‐correcting codes of length 4 can be constructed for all even alphabet sizes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 17: 136–146, 2009     

Combinatorial structures in loops I. Elements of the decomposition theory

Difference sets have been extensively studied in groups, principally in Abelian groups. Here we extend the notion of a difference set to loops. This entails considering the class of 〈υ, k〉 systems and the special subclasses of 〈υ, k, λ〉 principal block partial designs (PBPDs) and 〈υ, k, λ〉 designs. By means of a certain permutation matrix decomposition of the incidence matrices of a system and its complement, we can isomorphically identify an abstract 〈υ, k〉 system with a corresponding system in a loop. Special properties of this decomposition correspond to special algebraic properties of the loop. Here we investigate the situation when some or all of the elements of the loop are right inversive. We identify certain classes of 〈υ, k, λ〉 designs, including skew-Hadamard designs and finite projective planes, with designs and difference sets in right inverse property loops and prove a universal existence theorem for 〈υ, k, λ〉 PBPDs and corresponding difference sets in such loops.     

Some new BIBDS with λ = 1 and 6 ≤ k ≤ 10

This article is in two main parts. The first gives some (q,k, 1) difference families with q a prime power and 7 ≤ k ≤ 9; it also gives some GD(k, 1, k,kq)s which are extendable to resolvable (kq,k, 1) BIBDs for k E {6,8,10} and q a prime power equal to 1 mod 2(k − 1). The second uses some of these plus several recursive constructions to obtain some new (v,k,, 1) BIBDs with 7 ≤ k ≤ 9 and some new (v,8,1) resolvable BIBDs. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Nonvanishing of Kronecker coefficients for rectangular shapes

We prove that for any partition (λ₁,…,λd²) of size ?d there exists k?1 such that the tensor square of the irreducible representation of the symmetric group Sk?d with respect to the rectangular partition (k?,…,k?) contains the irreducible representation corresponding to the stretched partition (kλ₁,…,kλd²). We also prove a related approximate version of this statement in which the stretching factor k is effectively bounded in terms of d. We further discuss the consequences for geometric complexity theory which provided the motivation for this work.