Embedding handcuffed designs with block size 2 or 3 in 4-cycle systems (Q1808811)

A \(G\)-design of order \(n\) is an edge-disjoint decomposition of the complete graph \(K_n\) into copies of \(G\). It is called balanced if each vertex belongs to the same number of copies of \(G\). An \(m\)-cycle system is a \(C_m\)-design. A handcuffed design \(H(v,s,1)\) is a balanced \((s-1)\)-path design of order \(v\). If there exists a subset of \(v\) vertices of an \(m\)-cycle system of order \(n\) that induces an \(H(v,s,1)\), we say that this handcuffed design is contained in the cycle system. In this paper, for each \(n \equiv 1 \pmod{8}\) and for each \(s \in \{2,3\}\), all integers \(v\) are determined for which there exists a 4-cycle system of order \(n\) containing an \(H(v,s,1)\) handcuffed design.