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One of the main principles in a design of experiment is to use blocking factors whenever it is possible. On the other hand, if the blocking information is not precisely defined and subjective in nature, it is usually discarded. This paper introduces a new design that utilizes available subjective information on experimental units to create artificial blocking factors and develops a rank-sum test to test the difference between two population medians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sulfhydryl groups of cysteine residues are among the most reactive side chains in proteins. Free sulfhydryl groups of cysteines are often involved in the active sites for enzymatic catalysis, as in cysteine proteases (1,2). Common reactions of free sulflhydryl groups include oxidation to form cysteic acids and disulfide bonds. Disulfide bonds in proteins play an important role in the folding and refolding process, and in stabilizing the three-dimensional structure of the molecule (3). Although the amino acid sequences of proteins can be deduced from the corresponding cDNA sequences, the state and connectivity of the cysteine residues after translation cannot be predicted accurately. Characterization of disulfide linkages in proteins has become an essential part of the analysis of recombinant DNA products, because molecules having incorrect disulfide linkages may have much lower activity than that of the desired product. Therefore, it is important to verify that recombinant materials have the correct disulfide linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]