Non-symmetric 2-designs modulo 2 (Q1209224)

The author uses the Smith normal form of an incidence matrix to derive new necessary conditions for the existence of 2-designs with the property that all block intersection numbers are constant modulo some odd power of 2, in particular, quasi-symmetric designs of that type. This extends a similar result by \textit{A. Blokhuis} and \textit{A. R. Calderbank} [Des. Codes Cryptography 2, No. 2, 189-206 (1992; Zbl 0766.05008)], and \textit{B. Bagchi} [Des. Codes Cryptography 2, No. 1, 69-79 (1992; Zbl 0766.05007)]for designs with block intersection numbers that are constant modulo \(p^ e\), \(p\) an odd prime.