Combinatorial designs and their applications

the long version

This selection of papers arose out of a conference on combinatorial design theory organised by members of the Department of Pure Mathematics at the Open University. The papers cover recent developments in seven different areas of design theory and its applications, with the emphasis on non-geometrical topics. The areas covered are all of much current interest, and include statistical design theory, tournaments, difference sets, configurations in designs, infinite designs, linear codes and applications of designs to cryptography. The text will serve as a useful overview of the non-geometrical aspects of design theory, and should be of interest to research mathematicians or anyone with an interest in combinatorial designs. Readership: Researchers in combinatorics and other areas of pure mathematics: researchers in statistics and computer science interested in applications of design theory to statistical design, codes and cryptography.