The flower intersection problem for Kirkman triple systems

The flower at a point x in a Steiner triple system is the set of all triples containing x. Denote by I_R^*[r] the set of all integers k such that there exists a pair of KTS(2r+1) having k+r triples in common, r of them being the triples of a common flower. In this article we determine the set I_R^*[r] for any positive integer r≡1 (mod 3) (only nine cases are left undecided for r=7,13,16,19), and establish that I_R^*[r]=J[r] for r≡1 (mod 3) and r22 where J[r]={0,1,…,2r(r−1)/3−6,2r(r−1)/3−4,2r(r−1)/3}.     

Optimal partially balanced nested row-column designs

A partially balanced nested row-column design, referred to as PBNRC, is defined as an arrangement of v treatments in b p × q blocks for which, with the convention that p q, the information matrix for the estimation of treatment parameters is equal to that of the column component design which is itself a partially balanced incomplete block design. In this paper, previously known optimal incomplete block designs, and row-column and nested row-column designs are utilized to develop some methods of constructing optimal PBNRC designs. In particular, it is shown that an optimal group divisible PBNRC design for v = mn kn treatments in p × q blocks can be constructed whenever a balanced incomplete block design for m treatments in blocks of size k each and a group divisible PBNRC design for kn treatments in p × q blocks exist. A simple sufficient condition is given under which a group divisible PBNRC is Ψ_f-better for all f> 0 than the corresponding balanced nested row-column designs having binary blocks. It is also shown that the construction techniques developed particularly for group divisible designs can be generalized to obtain PBNRC designs based on rectangular association schemes.     

Balanced incomplete Latin square designs

Latin squares have been widely used to design an experiment where the blocking factors and treatment factors have the same number of levels. For some experiments, the size of blocks may be less than the number of treatments. Since not all the treatments can be compared within each block, a new class of designs called balanced incomplete Latin squares (BILS) is proposed. A general method for constructing BILS is proposed by an intelligent selection of certain cells from a complete Latin square via orthogonal Latin squares. The optimality of the proposed BILS designs is investigated. It is shown that the proposed transversal BILS designs are asymptotically optimal for all the row, column and treatment effects. The relative efficiencies of a delete-one-transversal BILS design with respect to the optimal designs for both cases are also derived; it is shown to be close to 100%, as the order becomes large.     

Fisher''s inequality for designs on regular graphs

Let G=(V,E) be a regular graph of valency d. A (v,k,λ,μ)-design over G is a pair , where is a family of k-subsets of V (blocks) such that for any distinct vertices x and y, the number of blocks containing {x,y} is equal to λ if {x,y} is an edge and is equal to μ if {x,y} is not an edge. We will prove that the number of vertices does not exceed the number of blocks (Fisher's Inequality) under the following condition: (r−μ)/(μ−λ) is not a multiple eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the graph (r is the replication number of the design). We also give examples showing that this restriction is essential.     

ADJUSTED ORTHOGONAL NESTED ROW-COLUMN DESIGNS

Adjusted orthogonality in nested row-column designs is defined and a sufficient condition established for its existence. It is shown that the properties of an adjusted orthogonal nested row-column design are directly related to those of its separate row and column component designs. A method for constructing efficient adjusted orthogonal designs involving a single replicate of every treatment in each of two blocks is given.     

Balanced e-optimal designs of resolution III for the 2×3 series

We consider the problem of constructing designs which are E-optimal in the class of all balanced resolution III designs for the 2^m×3ⁿ series. The inverse of the information matrix for general resolution III balanced 2^m×3ⁿ designs is obtained. Optimal designs are constructed for the cases (m,n)=(3, 1), (4, 1), (2, 2) and (3, 2) for various numbers of runs in the practical range.     

Orthogonal Latin hypercube designs from generalized orthogonal designs

Latin hypercube designs is a class of experimental designs that is important when computer simulations are needed to study a physical process. In this paper, we proposed some general criteria for evaluating Latin hypercube designs through their alias matrices. Moreover, a general method is proposed for constructing orthogonal Latin hypercube designs. In particular, links between orthogonal designs (ODs), generalized orthogonal designs (GODs) and orthogonal Latin hypercube designs are established. The generated Latin hypercube designs have some favorable properties such as uniformity, orthogonality of the first and some second order terms, and optimality under the defined criteria.     

Block-circulant matrices for constructing optimal Latin hypercube designs

Computer simulations are usually needed to study a complex physical process. In this paper, we propose new procedures for constructing orthogonal or low-correlation block-circulant Latin hypercube designs. The basic concept of these methods is to use vectors with a constant periodic autocorrelation function to obtain suitable block-circulant Latin hypercube designs. A general procedure for constructing orthogonal Latin hypercube designs with favorable properties and allowing run sizes being different from a power of 2 (or a power of 2 plus 1), is presented here for the first time. In addition, an expansion of the method is given for constructing Latin hypercube designs with low correlation. This expansion is useful when orthogonal Latin hypercube designs do not exist. The properties of the generated designs are further investigated. Some examples of the new designs, as generated by the proposed procedures, are tabulated. In addition, a brief comparison with the designs that appear in the literature is given.     

Orthogonal sets of balanced incomplete block designs with nested rows and column

Known series of balanced incomplete block designs with nested rows and columns are used to find orthogonal sets of these designs, producing main effects plans in nested rows and columns. Two infinite series are so constructed and shown to be universally optimum for the analysis with recovery of row and column information, a benefit produced by the additional higher strata orthogonality they enjoy. One of these series achieves orthogonality with just v − 1 replicates of v treatments, fewer than required by Latin squares.     

Adaptive wavelet empirical Bayes estimation of a location or a scale parameter

Assume that in independent two-dimensional random vectors (X₁,θ₁),…,(X_n,θ_n), each θ_i is distributed according to some unknown prior density function g. Also, given θ_i=θ, X_i has the conditional density function q(x−θ), x,θ(−∞,∞) (a location parameter case), or θ⁻¹q(x/θ), x,θ(0,∞) (a scale parameter case). In each pair the first component is observable, but the second is not. After the (n+1)th pair (X_n+1,θ_n+1) is obtained, the objective is to construct an empirical Bayes (EB) estimator of θ. In this paper we derive the EB estimators of θ based on a wavelet approximation with Meyer-type wavelets. We show that these estimators provide adaptation not only in the case when g belongs to the Sobolev space H with an unknown , but also when g is supersmooth.     

Hyper-Graeco-Latin Squares and Fractional Factorial Designs

A Latin square of order s is an arrangement of the s letters in an s × s square so that every letter appears exactly once in every row and exactly once in every column. Copeland and Nelson (2000) used two examples to show that a Latin square can be chosen such that it corresponds to a fractional factorial design. In this article, we are going to study this topic more precisely. Furthermore, we will explore the relationship between fractional factorial designs and hyper-Graeco-Latin squares in general, where s is a prime or a power of a prime.     

EQUINEIGHBOURED XPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

This paper introduces a new class of designs called equi-neighboured designs. An equineighboured design has the property that every unordered pair of treatments occurs as nearest neighbours equally frequently at every level. These designs are defined in Section 4 and shown to be balanced when neighbouring observations are correlated. Some equineighboured designs are constructed using a complete set of orthogonal Latin squares. Cyclic equineighboured designs are also defined.     

Nets and partially balanced designs

The use of nets in constructing partially balanced designs of Latin square type is well-known, but the potentialities of this technique have not apparently been fully utilized as yet. This paper settles a number of open questions concerning the existence of multiple or unique solutions for such designs.     

Multistage methodologies for comparing several treatments with a control

We consider the problem of constructing a set of fixed-width simultaneous confidence intervals for the treatment-control differences of means for several independent normal populations with a common unknown variance. Taking c observations from the control population instead of the usual vector-at-a-time approach, purely sequential estimation methodology is developed and asymptotic second-order characteristics are provided. Brief remarks on the accelerated sequential and three-stage methodologies have been added. Next, with the help of simulations, performances of the purely sequential, accelerated sequential and three-stage estimation techniques are compared. Overall, the second-order asymptotics are found to provide useful approximations even for moderate sample sizes.     

ROW AND COLUMAN DESIGNS WITH CONTIGUOUS REPLICATES

A method is given for constructing row and column designs for situations where replicates are contiguous. Designs of this type are needed in cotton variety trials. A table of generating arrays is given from which a series of resolvable designs can be constructed; these designs are called latinized α-designs. Some results from cotton variety trials are presented.     

On balanced incomplete Latin square designs

Recently, balanced incomplete Latin square designs are introduced in the literature. We propose three methods of constructions of balanced incomplete Latin square designs. Particular classes of Latin squares namely Knut Vik designs, semi Knut Vik designs, and crisscross Latin squares play a key role in the construction.     

Some new classes of orthogonal Latin hypercube designs

Orthogonal Latin hypercube (OLH) is a good design choice in a polynomial function model for computer experiments, because it ensures uncorrelated estimation of linear effects when a first-order model is fitted. However, when a second-order model is adopted, an OLH also needs to satisfy the additional property that each column is orthogonal to the elementwise square of all columns and orthogonal to the elementwise product of every pair of columns. Such class of OLHs is called OLHs of order two while the former class just possessing two-dimensional orthogonality is called OLHs of order one. In this paper we present a general method for constructing OLHs of orders one and two for n=s^m$n=s^m$ runs, where s and m may be any positive integers greater than one, by rotating a grouped orthogonal array with a column-orthogonal rotation matrix. The Kronecker product and the stacking methods are revisited and combined to construct some new classes of OLHs of orders one and two with other flexible numbers of runs. Some useful OLHs of order one or two with larger factor-to-run ratio and moderate runs are tabulated and discussed.     

ON RESOLVABLE INCOMPLETE BLOCK DESIGNS1

A method of constructing resolvable incomplete block designs for v(=ks, 2 ≤ k ≤ s - 1) treatments in blocks of size k using mutually orthogonal Latin squares is proposed. It has been seen in particular that when the number of replications is s — 1 (or s), which is feasible if s is a prime or a prime power, the method gives PBIB (3) (or semi-regular GD) designs. The analysis of such designs has also been discussed.     

Robustness of some designs against missing data

This article studies the robustness of several types of designs against missing data. The robustness of orthogonal resolution III fractional factorial designs and second-order rotatable designs is studied when a single observation is missing. We also study the robustness of balanced incomplete block designs when a block is missing and of Youden square designs when a column is missing.     

Error variance bias in neighbour balance and evenness of distribution designs

Neighbour balance and evenness of distribution designs help to address user concerns in the two‐dimensional layout of agricultural field trials. This is done by minimising the occurrence of pairwise treatment plot neighbours and ensuring that the replications of treatments are spread out across rows and columns of a trial. Such considerations result in a restriction on the normal randomisation process for a row‐column design which can lead to error variance bias. In this paper, uniformity trial data is used to assess the degree of this bias for both resolvable and non‐resolvable designs. Comparisons are made with a similar investigation using Linear Variance spatial designs.