What is a design? How should we classify them?

Design theory crosses the boundary between mathematics and statistics, and includes a wide range of disparate types of design. In this paper we present a classification scheme which aims to include as many important types as possible, based on a balance among concept, representation and use.     

Synthesis of perfluorinated functionalized, branched ethers

We wish to report synthesis of perfluorinated functionalized, branched ethers from their hydrocarbon analogues by direct fluorination. Yields up to 90%, with high purities, have been obtained at ambient temperature and pressure. This technique will likely develop into a new general method for producing perfluorinated, hyperbranched and dendritic polymers.     

Embedding partial Steiner triple systems so that their automorphisms extend

It is shown that there is a function g on the natural numbers such that a partial Steiner triple system U on u points can be embedded in a Steiner triple system V on ν points, in such a way that all automorphisms of U can be extended to V, for every admissible ν satisfying ν > g(u). We find exponential upper and lower bounds for g. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs.     

Mössbauer and infrared spectroscopic studies of novel mixed valence states in cobaltous ferrocyanides and ferricyanides

Novel mixed valence states have been obtained by the treatment of cobaltous ferrocyanides (Co⁺²Fe^II) and ferricyanides (Co⁺²Fe^III) in an ozone flow. The CN stretching bands occur at 2085 cm^–1 for Co⁺²Fe^II and at 2160 cm^–1 for Co⁺²Fe^III. After the ozonization process of Co⁺²Fe^II, an intense band approximately at 2125 cm^–1 is detected. This intermediate band must correspond to a mixed valence state of the type: Fe^II–CN–Co²⁺–NC–Fe^III Mössbauer spectra recorded in situ during the ozonization of Co⁺²Fe^II show the presence of two components: a doublet with isomer shift and quadrupole splitting values close to the cobalti ferricyanide and a very broad line for the mixed valence state. From the Mössbauer and infrared spectra of the aged samples of the Co⁺²Fe^II after ozonization, a relaxation process to the initial state of the samples is observed but the mixed valence state is stable.     

On the structure of a random sum-free set

Summary There is a natural probability measure on the set of all sum-free sets of natural numbers. If we represent such a set by its characteristic functions, then the zero-one random variabless(i) are far from independent, and we cannot expect a law of large numbers to hold for them. In this paper I conjecture a decomposition of into countably many more tractible pieces (up to a null set). I prove that each piece has positive measure, and show that, within each piece, a random set almost surely has a density which is a fixed rational number depending only on the piece. For example, the first such piece is made up of sets consisting entirely of odd numbers; it has probability 0.218 ..., and its members almost surely have density 1/4.