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     

Group Divisible Designs with Block Size Four and Group Type gum1 with Minimum m

In this paper, we continue to investigate the spectrum for {4}-GDDs of type g^u m¹ with m as small as possible. We determine, for each admissible pair (g,u), the minimum values of m for which a {4}-GDD of type g^um¹ exists with four possible exceptions.Gennian Ge-Researcher supported by NSFC Grant 10471127.Alan C. H. Ling-Researcher supported by an ARO grant 19-01-1-0406 and a DOE grant.classification Primary 05B05     

Cube Designs

A cube design of order v, or a CUBE(v), is a decomposition of all cyclicly oriented quadruples of a v‐set into oriented cubes. A CUBE(v) design is unoriented if its cubes can be paired so that the cubes in each pair are related by reflection through the center. A cube design is degenerate if it has repeated points on one of its cubes, otherwise it is nondegenerate. We show that a nondegenerate CUBE(v) design exists for all integers , and that an unoriented nondegenerate CUBE(v) design exists if and only if and or . A degenerate example of a CUBE(v) design is also given for each integer .     

Maximum uniformly resolvable designs with block sizes 2 and 4

A central question in design theory dating from Kirkman in 1850 has been the existence of resolvable block designs. In this paper we will concentrate on the case when the block size k=4. The necessary condition for a resolvable design to exist when k=4 is that v≡4mod12; this was proven sufficient in 1972 by Hanani, Ray-Chaudhuri and Wilson [H. Hanani, D.K. Ray-Chaudhuri, R.M. Wilson, On resolvable designs, Discrete Math. 3 (1972) 343-357]. A resolvable pairwise balanced design with each parallel class consisting of blocks which are all of the same size is called a uniformly resolvable design, a URD. The necessary condition for the existence of a URD with block sizes 2 and 4 is that v≡0mod4. Obviously in a URD with blocks of size 2 and 4 one wishes to have the maximum number of resolution classes of blocks of size 4; these designs are called maximum uniformly resolvable designs or MURDs. So the question of the existence of a MURD on v points has been solved for by the result of Hanani, Ray-Chaudhuri and Wilson cited above. In the case this problem has essentially been solved with a handful of exceptions (see [G. Ge, A.C.H. Ling, Asymptotic results on the existence of 4-RGDDs and uniform 5-GDDs, J. Combin. Des. 13 (2005) 222-237]). In this paper we consider the case when and prove that a exists for all u≥2 with the possible exception of u∈{2,7,9,10,11,13,14,17,19,22,31,34,38,43,46,47,82}.     

On the existence of mandatory representation designs with block sizes 3 and k

A mandatory representation design MR[ν,K] is a pairwise balanced design on ν points with block sizes from K in which for each k ∈ K there is a block in the design of size k. Mendelsohn and Rees [4] investigated the existence of MR[ν,K]s, where 3 ∈ K. In this report we consider additional necessary conditions, where K = {3,k}. These conditions are proved to be sufficient for 4 ≤ k ≤ 50 with one genuine exception. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 8: 122–131, 2000     

Quasi-affine symmetric designs

A symmetric design with parameters v = q ²(q + 2), k = q(q + 1), λ = q, q ≥ 2, is called a quasi-affine design if its point set can be partitioned into q + 2 subsets P ₀, P ₁,..., P _q , P _q+1 such that the induced structure in every point neighborhood is an affine plane of order q (repeated q times). A quasi-affine design with q ≥ 3 determines its point neighborhoods uniquely and dual of such a design is also a quasi-affine design. These structural properties pave way for definition of a strongly quasi-affine design and it is also shown that associated with every quasi-affine design is a unique strongly quasi-affine design from which the given quasi-affine design is obtained by certain unique cutting and pasting operation. This investigation also enables us to associate a unique 2-regular graph with q + 2 vertices and in turn, a unique colored partition of the integer q + 2. These combinatorial consequences are finally used to obtain an exponential lower bound on the number of non-isomorphic solutions of such symmetric designs improving the earlier lower bound of 2. Work of Sanjeevani Gharge is supported by Faculty Improvement Programme of U.G.C., India.     

Lower bounds and stochastic optimization algorithms for uniform designs with three or four levels

New lower bounds for three- and four-level designs under the centered -discrepancy are provided. We describe necessary conditions for the existence of a uniform design meeting these lower bounds. We consider several modifications of two stochastic optimization algorithms for the problem of finding uniform or close to uniform designs under the centered -discrepancy. Besides the threshold accepting algorithm, we introduce an algorithm named balance-pursuit heuristic. This algorithm uses some combinatorial properties of inner structures required for a uniform design. Using the best specifications of these algorithms we obtain many designs whose discrepancy is lower than those obtained in previous works, as well as many new low-discrepancy designs with fairly large scale. Moreover, some of these designs meet the lower bound, i.e., are uniform designs.

     

The lotto numbers L(n,3,p,2)

An (n,k,p,t)‐lotto design is an n‐set N and a set of k‐subsets of N (called blocks) such that for each p‐subset P of N, there is a block for which . The lotto number L(n,k,p,t) is the smallest number of blocks in an (n,k,p,t)‐lotto design. The numbers C(n,k,t) = L(n,k,t,t) are called covering numbers. It is easy to show that, for n ≥ k(p ? 1), For k = 3, we prove that equality holds if one of the following holds:

• (i) n is large, in particular
• (ii)
• (iii) 2 ≤ p ≤ 6.

© 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 333–350, 2006     

Structure and automorphism groups of Hadamard designs

Let n be the order of a Hadamard design, and G any finite group. Then there exists many non-isomorphic Hadamard designs of order 2^{12|G| + 13} n with automorphism group isomorphic to G.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.     

Quasi-Cyclic Codes from a Finite Affine Plane

Finite geometry codes are defined as the null spaces of the incidence matrices of points and flats in finite geometries. In this paper, we investigate the incidence matrix of points other than the origin and lines not passing through the origin in the affine plane AG(2,2^s), and we present two classes of quasi-cyclic codes derived from submatrices of the point-line incidence matrix. We also investigate the 2-ranks of those submatrices. AMS Classification: 94B25, 94B05     

Efficient crossover designs for comparing test treatments with a control treatment

Within a large family of crossover designs this paper characterizes the mathematical structures of A-optimal and A-efficient crossover designs for the purpose of statistical comparison between t experimental treatments with a control (standard) treatment. It further guides the user how to go about the construction of these designs and if needed doing the last minute modifications. To demonstrate the ideas some very interesting optimal and efficient small designs are constructed. The mathematical and statistical tools developed here could be very useful in other areas of design of experiments. Many interesting and not yet solved design problems for further research are implicitly stated throughout the paper.     

On optimal third order rotatable designs

We obtain results for choosing optimal third order rotatable designs for the fitting of a third order polynomial response surface model, for m3 factors. By representing the surface in terms of Kronecker algebra, it can be established that the two parameter family of boundary nucleus designs forms a complete class, under the Loewner matrix ordering. In this paper, we first narrow the class further to a smaller complete class, under the componentwise eigenvalue ordering. We then calculate specific optimal designs under Kiefer's % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeqOXdy2aaS% baaSqaaiaadchaaeqaaaaa!38C6!\[\phi _p \] (which include the often used E-, A-, and D-criteria). The E-optimal design attains a particularly simple, explicit form.N. R. D. is grateful for the partial support from the Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and from the National Security Agency through Grant MDA904-95-H-1020.     

Perfect Mendelsohn Packing Designs with Block Size Five

A (v, k, 1) perfect Mendelsohn packing design (briefly (v, k, 1)-PMPD) is a pair (X, A) where X is a v-set (of points) and A is a collection of cyclically ordered k-subsets of X (called blocks) such that every ordered pair of points of X appears t-apart in at most one block of A for all t = 1, 2,..., k-1. If no other such packing has more blocks, the packing is said to be maximum and the number of blocks in a maximum packing is called the packing number, denoted by P(v, k, 1). The values of the function P(v, 5, 1) are determined here for all v 5 with a few possible exceptions. This result is established by means of a result on incomplete perfect Mendelsohn designs which is of interest in its own right.     

Two‐strata rotatability in split‐plot central composite designs

A rotatable design (Ann. Math. Stat. 1957; 28 :195–241) for k factors is one such that the prediction variance is purely a function of distance from the design center. Of special interest in this paper is the rotatable central composite design (CCD), which most software packages use as the typical default choice for a second‐order design. In many cases some factors are hard to change while others are easy to change, which creates a split‐plot experiment. This paper establishes that the split‐plot structure precludes the possibility of any second‐order design being rotatable in the traditional sense. As an alternative this paper proposes the two‐strata rotatable split‐plot CCD, where the resulting prediction variance is a function of the whole plot (WP) distance and the subplot (SP) distance separately instead of the sum of them. The resulting design is rotatable in the WP space when the SP factors are held fixed, and vice versa. In the special case where the WP variance component is zero, the two‐strata rotatable split‐plot CCD becomes the standard rotatable CCD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Circular neighbor-balanced designs using cyclic shifts

In agriculture experiments, the response on a given plot may be affected by the treatments on neighboring plots as well as by the treatments applied to that plot. In this paper we consider such type of situations and construct circular neighbor-balanced designs (CNBDs) by the method of cyclic shifts or sets of shifts. An important feature of this method is that the properties of a design can be easily obtained from the sets of shifts instead of constructing the actual blocks of the design. That is, the off-...     

A hole‐size bound for incomplete t‐wise balanced designs

An incomplete t‐wise balanced design of index λ is a triple (X,H,??) where X is a υ–element set, H is a subset of X called the hole, and B is a collection of subsets of X called blocks, such that, every t‐element subset of X is either in H or in exactly λ blocks, but not both. If H is a hole in an incomplete t‐wise balanced design of order υ and index λ, then |H| ≤ υ/2 if t is odd and |H| ≤ (υ ? 1)/2 if t is even. In particular, this result establishes the validity of Kramer's conjecture that the maximal size of a block in a Steiner t‐wise balanced design is at most υ/2 if t is odd and at most (υ?1)/2 when t is even. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 9: 269–284, 2001     

Polynomial techniques for investigation of spherical designs

We investigate the structure of spherical τ-designs by applying polynomial techniques for investigation of some inner products of such designs. Our approach can be used for large variety of parameters (dimension, cardinality, strength). We obtain new upper bounds for the largest inner product, lower bounds for the smallest inner product and some other bounds. Applications are shown for proving nonexistence results either in small dimensions and in certain asymptotic process. In particular, we complete the classification of the cardinalities for which 3-designs on exist for n = 8, 13, 14 and 18. We also obtain new asymptotic lower bound on the minimum possible odd cardinality of 3-designs.      

A Generalization of Strongly Regular Graphs

Motivated from an example of ridge graphs relating to metric polytopes, a class of connected regular graphs such that the squares of their adjacency matrices are in certain symmetric Bose-Mesner algebras of dimension 3 is considered in this paper as a generalization of strongly regular graphs. In addition to analysis of this prototype example defined over (MetP₅)^*, some general properties of these graphs are studied from the combinatorial view point.AMS Subject Classification: 05E30.     

New large sets of t‐designs

Abstact: We introduce generalizations of earlier direct methods for constructing large sets of t‐designs. These are based on assembling systematically orbits of t‐homogeneous permutation groups in their induced actions on k‐subsets. By means of these techniques and the known recursive methods we construct an extensive number of new large sets, including new infinite families. In particular, a new series of LS[3](2(2 + m), 8·3^m ? 2, 16·3^m ? 3) is obtained. This also provides the smallest known ν for a t‐(ν, k, λ) design when t ≥ 16. We present our results compactly for ν ≤ 61, in tables derived from Pascal's triangle modulo appropriate primes. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 9: 40–59, 2001     

Approximate Solutions of Continuous Dispersion Problems

The problem of positioning p points so as to maximize the minimum distance between them has been studied in both location theory (as the continuous p-dispersion problem) and the design of computer experiments (as the maximin distance design problem). This problem can be formulated as a nonlinear program, either exactly or approximately. We consider formulations of both types and demonstrate that, as p increases, it becomes dramatically more expensive to compute solutions of the exact formulation than to compute solutions of the approximate formulation.