Super-Simple Resolvable Balanced Incomplete Block Designs with Block Size 4 and Index 4

The necessary conditions for the existence of a super-simple resolvable balanced incomplete block design on v points with block size k = 4 and index λ = 4, are that v ≥ 16 and v ≡ 4 (mod 12). These conditions are shown to be sufficient.     

Small Uniformly Resolvable Designs for Block Sizes 3 and 4

A uniformly resolvable design (URD) is a resolvable design in which each parallel class contains blocks of only one block size k, such a class is denoted k‐pc and for a given k the number of k‐pcs is denoted r_k. In this paper, we consider the case of block sizes 3 and 4 (both existent). We use v to denote the number of points, in this case the necessary conditions imply that v ≡ 0 (mod 12). We prove that all admissible URDs with v < 200 points exist, with the possible exceptions of 13 values of r₄ over all permissible v. We obtain a URD({3, 4}; 276) with r₄ = 9 by direct construction use it to and complete the construction of all URD({3, 4}; v) with r₄ = 9. We prove that all admissible URDs for v ≡ 36 (mod 144), v ≡ 0 (mod 60), v ≡ 36 (mod 108), and v ≡ 24 (mod 48) exist, with a few possible exceptions. Recently, the existence of URDs for all admissible parameter sets with v ≡ 0 (mod 48) was settled, this together with the latter result gives the existence all admissible URDs for v ≡ 0 (mod 24), with a few possible exceptions.     

Super‐simple resolvable balanced incomplete block designs with block size 4 and index 3

The necessary conditions for the existence of a super‐simple resolvable balanced incomplete block design on v points with k = 4 and λ = 3, are that v ≥ 8 and v ≡ 0 mod 4. These conditions are shown to be sufficient except for v = 12. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

4‐*GDDs(3n) and generalized Steiner systems GS(2, 4, v, 3)

Generalized Steiner systems GS(2, k, v, g) were first introduced by Etzion and used to construct optimal constant weight codes over an alphabet of size g + 1 with minimum Hamming distance 2k ? 3, in which each codeword has length v and weight k. As to the existence of a GS(2, k, v, g), a lot of work has been done for k = 3, while not so much is known for k = 4. The notion k‐*GDD was first introduced and used to construct GS(2, 3, v, 6). In this paper, singular indirect product (SIP) construction for GDDs is modified to construct GS(2, 4, v, g) via 4‐*GDDs. Furthermore, it is proved that the necessary conditions for the existence of a 4‐*GDD(3ⁿ), namely, n ≡ 0, 1 (mod 4) and n ≥ 8 are also sufficient. The known results on the existence of a GS(2, 4, v, 3) are then extended. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 11: 381–393, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/jcd.10047     

Construction of balanced doubles schedules

A recursive construction for v-player balanced doubles schedules based on resolvable B[4, 1; v] designs is presented. The schedules are resolvable when v ≡ 4 (mod 12). Combined with special constructions for v = 54 and 55 and previously known constructions, this gives schedules for all v.     

H-designs with the properties of resolvability or (1, 2)-resolvability

An H-design is said to be (1, α)-resolvable, if its block set can be partitioned into α-parallel classes, each of which contains every point of the design exactly α times. When α = 1, a (1, α)-resolvable H-design of type g ⁿ is simply called a resolvable H-design and denoted by RH(g ⁿ ), for which the general existence problem has been determined leaving mainly the case of g ≡ 0 (mod 12) open. When α = 2, a (1, 2)-RH(1 ⁿ ) is usually called a (1, 2)-resolvable Steiner quadruple system of order n, for which the existence problem is far from complete. In this paper, we consider these two outstanding problems. First, we prove that an RH(12 ⁿ ) exists for all n ≥ 4 with a small number of possible exceptions. Next, we give a near complete solution to the existence problem of (1, 2)-resolvable H-designs with group size 2. As a consequence, we obtain a near complete solution to the above two open problems.     

The existence of doubly near resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs

The existence of doubly near resolvable (v,2,1)-BIBDs was established by Mullin and Wallis in 1975. In this article, we determine the spectrum of a second class of doubly near resolvable balanced incomplete block designs. We prove the existence of DNR(v,3,2)-BIBDs for v ≡ 1 (mod 3), v ≥ 10 and v ? {34,70,85,88,115,124,133,142}. The main construction is a frame construction, and similar constructions can be used to prove the existence of doubly resolvable (v,3,2)-BIBDs and a class of Kirkman squares with block size 3, KS₃(v,2,4). © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Existence of non‐resolvable Steiner triple systems

We consider two well‐known constructions for Steiner triple systems. The first construction is recursive and uses an STS(v) to produce a non‐resolvable STS(2v + 1), for v ≡ 1 (mod 6). The other construction is the Wilson construction that we specify to give a non‐resolvable STS(v), for v ≡ 3 (mod 6), v > 9. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 13: 16–24, 2005.     

Existence results for near resolvable designs

A near resolvable design, NRB(v, k), is a balanced incomplete block design whose block set can be partitioned into v classes such that each class contains every point of the design but one, and each point is missing from exactly one class. The necessary conditions for the existence of near resolvable designs are v ≡ 1 mod k and λ = k ? 1. These necessary conditions have been shown to be sufficient for k ? {2,3,4} and almost always sufficient for k ? {5,6}. We are able to show that there exists an integer n₀(k) so that NRB(v,k) exist for all v > n₀(k) and v ≡ 1 mod k. Using some new direct constructions we show that there are many k for which it is easy to compute an explicit bound on n₀(k). These direct constructions also allow us to build previously unknown NRB(v,5) and NRB(v,6). © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

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     

Existence of GBRDs with block size 4 and BRDs with block size 5

Chaudhry et al. (J Stat Plann Inference 106:303–327, 2002) have examined the existence of BRD(v, 5, λ)s for \({\lambda \in \{4, 10, 20\}}\). In addition, Ge et al. (J Combin Math Combin Comput 46:3–45, 2003) have investigated the existence of \({{\rm GBRD}(v,4,\lambda; \mathbb{G}){\rm s}}\) when \({\mathbb{G}}\) is a direct product of cyclic groups of prime orders. For the first problem, necessary existence conditions are (i) v ≥ 5, (ii) λ(v ? 1) ≡ 0 (mod4), (iii) λ v(v ? 1) ≡ 0 (mod 40), (iv) λ ≡ 0 (mod 2). We show these are sufficient, except for \({v=5, \lambda \in \{4,10\}}\). For the second problem, we improve the known existence results. Five necessary existence conditions are (i) v ≥ 4, (ii) \({\lambda \equiv 0\;({\rm mod}\,|\mathbb{G}|)}\), (iii) λ(v ? 1) ≡ 0 (mod 3), (iv) λ v(v ? 1) ≡ 0 (mod 4), (v) if v = 4 and \({|\mathbb{G}| \equiv 2\;({\rm mod}\,4)}\) then λ ≡ 0 (mod 4). We show these conditions are sufficient, except for \({\lambda = |\mathbb{G}|, (v,|\mathbb{G}|) \in \{(4,3), (10,2), (5,6), (7,4)\}}\) and possibly for \({\lambda = |\mathbb{G}|, (v,|\mathbb{G}|) \in \{(10,2h), (5,6h), (7,4h)\}}\) with h ≡ 1 or 5 (mod 6), h > 1.     

The existence of uniform 5-GDDs

In this article, we construct group divisible designs (GDDs) with block size five, group-type g^u and index unity. The necessary condition for the existence of such a GDD is u ≷ 5, (u - 1)g ≡ 0 (mod 4) and u(u - 1)g² ≡ 0 (mod 20). It is shown that these necessary conditions are also sufficient, except possibly in a few cases. Additionally, a new construction to obtain GDDs using holey TDs is presented. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 5: 275–299, 1997     

Maximal resolvable packings and minimal resolvable coverings of triples by quadruples

Determination of maximal resolvable packing number and minimal resolvable covering number is a fundamental problem in designs theory. In this article, we investigate the existence of maximal resolvable packings of triples by quadruples of order v (MRPQS(v)) and minimal resolvable coverings of triples by quadruples of order v (MRCQS(v)). We show that an MRPQS(v) (MRCQS(v)) with the number of blocks meeting the upper (lower) bound exists if and only if v≡0 (mod 4). As a byproduct, we also show that a uniformly resolvable Steiner system URS(3, {4, 6}, {r₄, r₆}, v) with r₆≤1 exists if and only if v≡0 (mod 4). All of these results are obtained by the approach of establishing a new existence result on RH(6²ⁿ) for all n≥2. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 18: 209–223, 2010     

Some results on (v,{5,w*})-pbds

In this article, we construct pairwise balanced designs (PBDs) on v points having blocks of size five, except for one block of size w ? {17,21,25,29,33}. A necessary condition for the existence of such a PBD is v ? 4w + 1 and (1) v ≡ 1 or 5 (mod 20) for w = 21, 25; (2) v ≡ 9 or 17 (mod 20) for w = 17,29; (3) v ≡ 13 (mod 20) for w = 33. We show that these necessary conditions are sufficient with at most 25 possible exceptions of (v,w). We also show that a BIBD B(5, 1; w) can be embedded in some B(5, 1; v) whenever v ≡ w ≡ 1 or 5 (mod 20) and v ? 5w ? 4, except possibly for (v, w) = (425, 65). © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A new existence proof for Steiner quadruple systems

A Steiner quadruple system of order v is an ordered pair ${(X, \mathcal{B})}$ , where X is a set of cardinality v, and ${\mathcal{B}}$ is a set of 4-subsets of X, called blocks, with the property that every 3-subset of X is contained in a unique block. Such designs exist if and only if ${v \equiv 2,4\, (\bmod\, 6)}$ . The first and second proofs of this result were given by Hanani in 1960 and in 1963, respectively. All the existing proofs are rather cumbersome, even though simplified proofs have been given by Lenz in 1985 and by Hartman in 1994. To study Steiner quadruple systems, Hanani introduced the concept of H-designs in 1963. The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative existence proof for Steiner quadruple systems via H-designs of type 2 ⁿ . In 1990, Mills showed that for n > 3, n ≠ 5, an H-design of type g ⁿ exists if and only if ng is even and g(n ? 1)(n ? 2) is divisible by 3, where the main context is the complicated existence proof for H-designs of type 2 ⁿ . However, Mill’s proof was based on the existence result of Steiner quadruple systems. In this paper, by using the theory of candelabra systems and H-frames, we give a new existence proof for H-designs of type 2 ⁿ independent of the existence result of Steiner quadruple systems. As a consequence, we also provide a new existence proof for Steiner quadruple systems.     

Pitch tournament designs and other BIBDs—existence results for the case ν = 8n

A pitch tournament is a resolvable or near resolvable(ν,8,7) BIBD that satisfies certain criteria in addition to theusual condition that ν ≡ 0 or 1 (mod 8). Here we establish that for the case ν = 8n the necessary condition forpitch tournaments is sufficient for all n > 1615, with at most 187 smaller exceptions. This complements our earlier study of the ν = 8n + 1 case, where we established sufficiency for all n > 224, with at most 28 smaller exceptions. The four missing cases for (ν,8,7) BIBDs are provided, namely ν∈{48,56,96,448}, thereby establishing that the necessary existence conditions are sufficient without exception. Some constructions for resolvable designs are also provided, reducing the existence question for (ν,8,7) RBIBDs to 21 possible exceptions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 9: 334–356, 2001     

Doyen–Wilson theorem for nested Steiner triple systems

The obvious necessary conditions for the existence of a nested Steiner triple system of order v containing a nested subsystem of order w are v ≥ 3w + 4 and v ≡ w ≡ 1 (mod 6). We show that these conditions are also sufficient. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Tripling Construction for Large Sets of Resolvable Directed Triple Systems

In this paper, we first define a doubly transitive resolvable idempotent quasigroup （DTRIQ）, and show that aDTRIQ of order v exists if and only ifv ≡0（mod3） and v ≠ 2（mod4）. Then we use DTRIQ to present a tripling construction for large sets of resolvable directed triple systems, which improves an earlier version of tripling construction by Kang （J. Combin. Designs, 4 （1996）, 301-321）. As an application, we obtain an LRDTS（4·3^n） for any integer n ≥ 1, which provides an infinite family of even orders.     

Almost resolvable Pk-decompositions of complete graphs

An almost P_k-factor of G is a P_k-factor of G - { v } for some vertex v. An almost resolvable P_k-decomposition of λK_n is a partition of the edges of λK_n into almost P_k-factors. We prove that necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an almost resolvable P_k-decomposition of λK_n are n ≡ 1 (mod k) and λnk/2 ≡ 0 (mod k ?1).     

The Existence of Augmented Resolvable Candelabra Quadruple Systems with Three Even Groups

Augmented candelabra quadruple systems play an important role in the construction of Steiner 3-designs. In this paper, we consider augmented resolvable candelabra quadruple systems with three even groups and show that the necessary conditions on the existence of ARCQS(g ³ : s) when g is even are also sufficient.