On resolvable Golomb rulers,symmetric configurations and progressive dinner parties

Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics - We define a new type of Golomb ruler, which we term a resolvable Golomb ruler. These are Golomb rulers that satisfy an additional “resolvability”...     

Cyclic Designs with Block Size 4 and Related Optimal Optical Orthogonal Codes

We prove the existence of a cyclic (4p, 4, 1)-BIBD—and hence, equivalently, that of a cyclic (4, 1)-GDD of type 4 ^p —for any prime such that (p–1)/6 has a prime factor q not greater than 19. This was known only for q=2, i.e., for . In this case an explicit construction was given for . Here, such an explicit construction is also realized for .We also give a strong indication about the existence of a cyclic (4p 4, 1)-BIBD for any prime , p>7. The existence is guaranteed for p>(2q ³–3q ²+1)²+3q ² where q is the least prime factor of (p–1)/6.Finally, we prove, giving explicit constructions, the existence of a cyclic (4, 1)-GDD of type 6 ^p for any prime p>5 and the existence of a cyclic (4, 1)-GDD of type 8 ^p for any prime . The result on GDD's with group size 6 was already known but our proof is new and very easy.All the above results may be translated in terms of optimal optical orthogonal codes of weight four with =1.     

Evaluation of the 'antioxidant power' of olive oils based on a FIA system with amperometric detection

A new method for the evaluation of the 'total antioxidant power' of olive oils, based on a flow injection analysis system with electrochemical detection, is described. It represents a attractive alternative to the mostly used Rancimat method since it is based on the chemical structure of antioxidants and does not require the manipulation of several parameters, such as temperature and oxygen pressure, to accelerate oil oxidation. The proposed procedure is simple, rapid, allows a throughput of 90 samples h-1 and provides a good precision: an RSD of 3.5% was obtained for caffeic acid at the concentration level of 5 mg L-1 (n = 12). A comparison of the proposed was obtained for caffeic acid at the concentration level of 5 mg L-1 (n = 12). A comparison of the proposed procedure with two other methods (Rancimat method and ABTS.+ decoloration assay) was performed to investigate the applicability and limitations of the proposed method.     

Hamiltonian Cycle Systems Which Are Both Cyclic and Symmetric

The notion of a symmetric Hamiltonian cycle system (HCS) of a graph Γ has been introduced and studied by J. Akiyama, M. Kobayashi, and G. Nakamura [J Combin Des 12 (2004), 39–45] for , by R. A. Brualdi and M. W. Schroeder [J Combin Des 19 (2011), 1–15] for , and then naturally extended by V. Chitra and A. Muthusamy [Discussiones Mathematicae Graph Theory, to appear] to the multigraphs and . In each case, there must be an involutory permutation ψ of the vertices fixing all the cycles of the HCS and at most one vertex. Furthermore, for , this ψ should be precisely the permutation switching all pairs of endpoints of the edges of I. An HCS is cyclic if it is invariant under some cyclic permutation of all the vertices. The existence question for a cyclic HCS of has been completely solved by Jordon and Morris [Discrete Math (2008), 2440–2449]—and we note that their cyclic construction is also symmetric for (mod 8). It is then natural to study the existence problem of an HCS of a graph or multigraph Γ as above which is both cyclic and symmetric. In this paper, we completely solve this problem: in the case of even order, the final answer is that cyclicity and symmetry can always cohabit when a cyclic solution exists. On the other hand, imposing that a cyclic HCS of odd order is also symmetric is very restrictive; we prove in fact that an HCS of with both properties exists if and only if is a prime.     

Constructions for rotational near resolvable block designs

A (ν, k, k?1) near resolvable block design (NRBD) is r‐rotational over a group G if it admits G as an automorphism group of order (ν?1)/r fixing exactly one point and acting semiregularly on the others. We give direct and recursive constructions for rotational NRBDs with particular attention to 1‐rotational ones. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 9: 157–181, 2001     

A Complete Solution to the Existence of ‐Cycle Frames of Type

The existence problem of a ‐cycle frame of type is now solved for any quadruple .     

Schubert graphs,symmetric groups and flags of Boolean lattices

We introduce the concept of Schubert graphs, as Schubert spaces — in the meaning of A. Bichara and C. Somma [2] — whose lines have exactly two points. They turn out to be isomorphic to particular Cayley graphs of symmetric groups; this leads also to a new proof of a well-known characterization of symmetric groups. In connection with [2], we prove that a Schubert graph is isomorphic to the graph representing the flags of a Boolean lattice. Finally, we discuss the independence of the axioms.To Professor Adriano Barlotti on the occasion of his seventieth birthday     

On simple radical difference families

For q a prime power and k odd (even), we define a (q,k,1) difference family to be radical if each base block is a coset of the kth roots of unity in the multiplicative group of GF(q) (the union of a coset of the (k ? 1)th roots of unity in the multiplicative group of GF(q) with zero). Such a family will be denoted by RDF. The main result on this subject is a theorem dated 1972 by R.M. Wilson; it is a sufficient condition for the existence of a (q,k, 1)-RDF for any k. We improve this result by replacing Wilson's condition with another sufficient but weaker condition, which is proved to be necessary at least for k ? 7. As a consequence, we get new difference families and hence new Steiner 2-designs. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

On optimal (v, 5, 2, 1) optical orthogonal codes

The size of a (v, 5, 2, 1) optical orthogonal code (OOC) is shown to be at most equal to ${\lceil{\frac{v}{12}}\rceil}$ when v ≡ 11 (mod 132) or v ≡ 154 (mod 924), and at most equal to ${\lfloor{\frac{v}{12}}\rfloor}$ in all the other cases. Thus a (v, 5, 2, 1)-OOC is naturally said to be optimal when its size reaches the above bound. Many direct and recursive constructions for infinite classes of optimal (v, 5, 2, 1)-OOCs are presented giving, in particular, a very strong indication about the existence of an optimal (p, 5, 2, 1)-OOC for every prime p ≡ 1 (mod 12).     

Doubly transitive 2‐factorizations

Let be a 2‐factorization of the complete graph K_v admitting an automorphism group G acting doubly transitively on the set of vertices. The vertex‐set V(K_v) can then be identified with the point‐set of AG(n, p) and each 2‐factor of is the union of p‐cycles which are obtained from a parallel class of lines of AG(n, p) in a suitable manner, the group G being a subgroup of A G L(n, p) in this case. The proof relies on the classification of 2‐(v, k, 1) designs admitting a doubly transitive automorphism group. The same conclusion holds even if G is only assumed to act doubly homogeneously. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs