Some results on 4<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis></Superscript>2<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript> designs with clear two-factor interaction components

Clear effects criterion is one of the important rules for selecting optimal fractional factorial designs, and it has become an active research issue in recent years. Tang et al. derived upper and lower bounds on the maximum number of clear two-factor interactions (2fi’s) in 2 ^n−(n−k) fractional factorial designs of resolutions III and IV by constructing a 2 ^n−(n−k) design for given k, which are only restricted for the symmetrical case. This paper proposes and studies the clear effects problem for the asymmetrical case. It improves the construction method of Tang et al. for 2 ^n−(n−k) designs with resolution III and derives the upper and lower bounds on the maximum number of clear two-factor interaction components (2fic’s) in 4 ^m 2 ⁿ designs with resolutions III and IV. The lower bounds are achieved by constructing specific designs. Comparisons show that the number of clear 2fic’s in the resulting design attains its maximum number in many cases, which reveals that the construction methods are satisfactory when they are used to construct 4 ^m 2 ⁿ designs under the clear effects criterion. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10571093, 10671099 and 10771123), the Research Foundation for Doctor Programme (Grant No. 20050055038) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (Grant No. Q2007A05). Zhang’s research was also supported by the Visiting Scholar Program at Chern Institute of Mathematics.     

Construction of Hamilton Path Tournament Designs

A Hamilton path tournament design involving n teams and n/2 stadiums, is a round robin schedule on n − 1 days in which each team plays in each stadium at most twice, and the set of games played in each stadium induce a Hamilton path on n teams. Previously, Hamilton path tournament designs were shown to exist for all even n not divisible by 4, 6, or 10. Here, we give an inductive procedure for the construction of Hamilton path tournament designs for n = 2 ^p ≥ 8 teams.     

On construction ofT m -type PBIB designs

Summary Recently Saha and Das [10] constructed partially balanced incomplete block (PBIB) designs of two and more associate classes by using confounded designs for 2 ⁿ factorials. Several new designs of two associate classes were obtained through those methods. This paper generalizes one of the earlier methods of construction to obtain several series ofT _m -type (m≧2) PBIB designs, i.e., the designs havingm-dimensional triangular association schemes. Some more new designs of two associate classes (i.e.,T ₂-type) are obtained through the generalized methods of construction.     

Exponentially Many Hadamard Designs

If there is a Hadamard design of order n, then there are at least 2^{8n−16−9log n} non-isomorphic Hadamard designs of order 2n. Mathematics Subject Classificaion 2000: 05B05     

2-Designs overGF(q)

We give a construction of a series of 2-(n, 3,q ²+q+1;q) designs of vector spaces over a finite fieldGF(q) of odd characteristic. These designs correspond to those constructed by Thomas and the author for even characteristic. As a natural generalization we give a collection ofm-dimensional subspaces which possibly become a 2-(n, m, λ; q) design.     

Symmetric designs with bruck subdesigns

IfP is a finite projective plane of ordern with a proper subplaneQ of orderm which is not a Baer subplane, then a theorem of Bruck [Trans. AMS 78(1955), 464–481] asserts thatn≧m ²+m. If the equalityn=m ²+m were to occur thenP would be of composite order andQ should be called a Bruck subplane. It can be shown that if a projective planeP contains a Bruck subplaneQ, then in factP contains a designQ′ which has the parameters of the lines in a three dimensional projective geometry of orderm. A well known scheme of Bruck suggests using such aQ′ to constructP. Bruck’s theorem readily extends to symmetric designs [Kantor, Trans. AMS 146 (1969), 1–28], hence the concept of a Bruck subdesign. This paper develops the analoque ofQ′ and shows (by example) that the analogous construction scheme can be used to find symmetric designs.     

Extremum problems for entire functions of exponential spherical type

We consider extremum problems for entire functions of exponential spherical type related to important extremum problems on the optimal point (the Chernykh point) in the sharp jackson inequality in the spaceL ₂(ℝ ⁿ ) and the connection between codes and designs on the torusT ⁿ . Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 179–187, August, 2000.     

On Minimal Defining Sets of Full Designs and Self-Complementary Designs, and a New Algorithm for Finding Defining Sets of t-Designs

A defining set of a t-(v, k, λ) design is a partial design which is contained in a unique t-design with the given parameters. A minimal defining set is a defining set, none of whose proper partial designs is a defining set. This paper proposes a new and more efficient algorithm that finds all non-isomorphic minimal defining sets of a given t-design. The complete list of minimal defining sets of 2-(6, 3, 6) designs, 2-(7, 3, 4) designs, the full 2-(7, 3, 5) design, a 2-(10, 4, 4) design, 2-(10, 5, 4) designs, 2-(13, 3, 1) designs, 2-(15, 3, 1) designs, the 2-(25, 5, 1) design, 3-(8, 4, 2) designs, the 3-(12, 6, 2) design, and 3-(16, 8, 3) designs are given to illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm. Also, corrections to the literature are made for the minimal defining sets of four 2-(7, 3, 3) designs, two 2-(6, 3, 4) designs and the 2-(21, 5, 1) design. Moreover, an infinite class of minimal defining sets for 2-((v) || 3){v\choose3} designs, where v ≥ 5, has been constructed which helped to show that the difference between the sizes of the largest and the smallest minimal defining sets of 2-((v) || 3){v\choose3} designs gets arbitrarily large as v → ∞. Some results in the literature for the smallest defining sets of t-designs have been generalized to all minimal defining sets of these designs. We have also shown that all minimal defining sets of t-(2n, n, λ) designs can be constructed from the minimal defining sets of their restrictions when t is odd and all t-(2n, n, λ) designs are self-complementary. This theorem can be applied to 3-(8, 4, 3) designs, 3-(8, 4, 4) designs and the full 3-(8 || 4)3-{8 \choose 4} design using the previous results on minimal defining sets of their restrictions. Furthermore we proved that when n is even all (n − 1)-(2n, n, λ) designs are self-complementary.     

Optimal constant weight covering codes and nonuniform group divisible 3-designs with block size four

Let K _q (n, w, t, d) be the minimum size of a code over Z _q of length n, constant weight w, such that every word with weight t is within Hamming distance d of at least one codeword. In this article, we determine K _q (n, 4, 3, 1) for all n ≥ 4, q = 3, 4 or q = 2 ^m  + 1 with m ≥ 2, leaving the only case (q, n) = (3, 5) in doubt. Our construction method is mainly based on the auxiliary designs, H-frames, which play a crucial role in the recursive constructions of group divisible 3-designs similar to that of candelabra systems in the constructions of 3-wise balanced designs. As an application of this approach, several new infinite classes of nonuniform group divisible 3-designs with block size four are also constructed.     

On the pontryagin-steenrod-wu theorem

We present a short and direct proof (based on the Pontryagin-Thom construction) of the following Pontryagin-Steenrod-Wu theorem: (a) LetM be a connected orientable closed smooth (n + 1)-manifold,n≥3. Define the degree map deg: π ⁿ (M) →H ⁿ (M; ℤ) by the formula degf =f*[S ⁿ ], where [S ⁿ ] εH ⁿ (M; ℤ) is the fundamental class. The degree map is bijective, if there existsβ εH ₂(M, ℤ/2ℤ) such thatβ ·w ₂(M) ε 0. If suchβ does not exist, then deg is a 2-1 map; and (b) LetM be an orientable closed smooth (n+2)-manifold,n≥3. An elementα lies in the image of the degree map if and only ifρ ₂ α ·w ₂(M)=0, whereρ ₂: ℤ → ℤ/2ℤ is reduction modulo 2.     

On Estimates of Factorial Quotients

We consider the factorial quotients (2n − 1)!!/(2n)!! in connection with the Wallis formula n ⁻¹(2n)!!²/(2n − 1)!!² → π. We improve the Wallis inequalities (n + 1/2)⁻¹(2n)!!²/(2n − 1)!!² < π < n ⁻¹(2n)!!²/(2n − 1)!!² for π and obtain new estimates of factorial quotients with error order not worse than 1/n ². __________ Translated from Lietuvos Matematikos Rinkinys, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 349–358, July–September, 2005.     

The Coulomb energy of spherical designs on <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>

In this work we give upper bounds for the Coulomb energy of a sequence of well separated spherical n-designs, where a spherical n-design is a set of m points on the unit sphere S ² ⊂ ℝ³ that gives an equal weight cubature rule (or equal weight numerical integration rule) on S ² which is exact for spherical polynomials of degree ⩽ n. (A sequence Ξ of m-point spherical n-designs X on S ² is said to be well separated if there exists a constant λ > 0 such that for each m-point spherical n-design X ∈ Ξ the minimum spherical distance between points is bounded from below by .) In particular, if the sequence of well separated spherical designs is such that m and n are related by m = O(n ²), then the Coulomb energy of each m-point spherical n-design has an upper bound with the same first term and a second term of the same order as the bounds for the minimum energy of point sets on S ². Dedicated to Edward B. Saff on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Uniform Group Divisible Designs with Block Sizes Three and <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>

 The existence of group divisible designs of type g ^t with block sizes three and n, 4≤ n≤10, is completely settled for all values of g and t. Received: July 21, 1999 Final version received: September 10, 2001 RID="*" ID="*" This work was done in 1995 while the authors were graduate students at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada Acknowledgments. The authors would like to thank the referee for his careful reading and for pointing out some errors in an earlier draft of the paper.     

The Overlay of Minimization Diagrams in a Randomized Incremental Construction

In a randomized incremental construction of the minimization diagram of a collection of n hyperplanes in ℝ ^d , for d≥2, the hyperplanes are inserted one by one, in a random order, and the minimization diagram is updated after each insertion. We show that if we retain all the versions of the diagram, without removing any old feature that is now replaced by new features, the expected combinatorial complexity of the resulting overlay does not grow significantly. Specifically, this complexity is O(n ^⌊d/2⌋log n), for d odd, and O(n ^⌊d/2⌋), for d even. The bound is asymptotically tight in the worst case for d even, and we show that this is also the case for d=3. Several implications of this bound, mainly its relation to approximate halfspace range counting, are also discussed.     

New quasi-symmetric designs constructed using mutually orthogonal Latin squares and Hadamard matrices

Using Hadamard matrices and mutually orthogonal Latin squares, we construct two new quasi-symmetric designs, with parameters 2 − (66,30,29) and 2 − (78,36,30). These are the first examples of quasi-symmetric designs with these parameters. The parameters belong to the families 2 − (2u ² − u,u ² − u,u ² − u − 1) and 2 − (2u ² + u,u ²,u ² − u), which are related to Hadamard parameters. The designs correspond to new codes meeting the Grey–Rankin bound.     

Right triangles with algebraic sides and elliptic curves over number fields

Given any positive integer n, we prove the existence of infinitely many right triangles with area n and side lengths in certain number fields. This generalizes the famous congruent number problem. The proof allows the explicit construction of these triangles; for this purpose we find for any positive integer n an explicit cubic number field ℚ(λ) (depending on n) and an explicit point P _λ of infinite order in the Mordell-Weil group of the elliptic curve Y ² = X ³ − n ² X over ℚ(λ). Research of the rest of authors was supported in part by grant MTM 2006-01859 (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain).     

Some Exponential Inequalities for Positively Associated Random Variables and Rates of Convergence of the Strong Law of Large Numbers

We present some exponential inequalities for positively associated unbounded random variables. By these inequalities, we obtain the rate of convergence n ^−1/2 β _n log ^3/2 n in which β _n can be particularly taken as (log log n)^1/σ with any σ>2 for the case of geometrically decreasing covariances, which is faster than the corresponding one n ^−1/2(log log n)^1/2log ² n obtained by Xing, Yang, and Liu in J. Inequal. Appl., doi: (2008) for the case mentioned above, and derive the convergence rate n ^−1/2 β _n log ^1/2 n for the above β _n under the given covariance function, which improves the relevant one n ^−1/2(log log n)^1/2log n obtained by Yang and Chen in Sci. China, Ser. A 49(1), 78–85 (2006) for associated uniformly bounded random variables. In addition, some moment inequalities are given to prove the main results, which extend and improve some known results.     

Canonical isotopies in Euclidean space

LetG(n,k) denote the space (with the compact-open topology) of homeomorphisms ofR ⁿ which are fixed onR ^k. Theorem 1:G(n, n−2) deforms inG(n, 0) toO(2), whereO(2) is the orthogonal group. Corollary 2: (forn=2) the Kneser theorems. Corollary 3: A EuclideanR ⁿ bundleξ ⁿ overS ^m(m≦∞) which contains anR ⁿ−2 subbundleξ ^{n − 2} is isomorphic, as aG(n,0) bundle, to a Whitney sumξ ^{n − 2} ⊕ξ ². Corollary 4: (n−2) stable homeomorphisms ofR ⁿ orS ⁿ are (n−1) stable, hence stable if orientation preserving. Part of this work represents a portion of the author’s Ph.D. thesis at the University of California, Los Angeles, written under the direction of D. S. Gillman and R. C. Kirby.     

Direct Constructions of Hyperplanes of Dual Polar Spaces Arising from Embeddings

Let e be one of the following full projective embeddings of a finite dual polar space Δ of rank n ≥ 2: (i) The Grassmann-embedding of the symplectic dual polar space Δ ≅ DW(2n – 1, q); (ii) the Grassmann-embedding of the Hermitian dual polar space Δ ≅ DH(2n – 1, q ²); (iii) the spin-embedding of the orthogonal dual polar space Δ ≅ DQ(2n, q); (iv) the spin-embedding of the orthogonal dual polar space Δ ≅DQ ⁻(2n + 1, q). Let H_e{\mathcal{H}_{e}} denote the set of all hyperplanes of Δ arising from the embedding e. We give a method for constructing the hyperplanes of H_e{\mathcal{H}_{e}} without implementing the embedding e and discuss (possible) applications of the given construction.     

On a cardinal group invariant related to decompositions of Abelian groups

For each Abelian groupG, a cardinal invariant χ(G) is introduced and its properties are studied. In the special caseG = ℤ ⁿ , the cardinalχ(ℤ ⁿ ) is equal to the minimal cardinality of an essential subset of ℤ ⁿ , i.e., a of a subsetA ⊂ ℤ ⁿ such that, for any coloring of the group ℤ ⁿ inn colors, there exists an infinite one-color subset that is symmetric with respect to some pointα ofA. The estimaten( ^{n +} l)/2 ≤χ(ℤ ⁿ ) < 2n is proved for alln and the relationχ(ℤ ⁿ ) =n(n + 1)/2 forn ≤ 3. The structure of essential subsets of cardinalityχ(ℤ ⁿ ) in ℤ ⁿ is completely described forn ≤ 3. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 341–350, September, 1998.