International Association for Statistical Computing The International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC) is a Section of the International Statistical Institute. The objectives of the Association are to foster world-wide interest in e?ective statistical computing and to - change technical knowledge through international contacts and meetings - tween statisticians, computing professionals, organizations, institutions, g- ernments and the general public. The IASC organises its own Conferences, IASC World Conferences, and COMPSTAT in Europe. The 17th Conference of ERS-IASC, the biennial meeting of European - gional Section of the IASC was held in Rome August 28 - September 1, 2006. This conference took place in Rome exactly 20 years after the 7th COMP- STAT symposium which was held in Rome, in 1986. Previous COMPSTAT conferences were held in: Vienna (Austria, 1974); West-Berlin (Germany, 1976); Leiden (The Netherlands, 1978); Edimbourgh (UK, 1980); Toulouse (France, 1982); Prague (Czechoslovakia, 1984); Rome (Italy, 1986); Copenhagen (Denmark, 1988); Dubrovnik (Yugoslavia, 1990); Neuch atel (Switzerland, 1992); Vienna (Austria,1994); Barcelona (Spain, 1996);Bristol(UK,1998);Utrecht(TheNetherlands,2000);Berlin(Germany, 2002); Prague (Czech Republic, 2004).

International Federation of Classification Societies The International Federation of Classification Societies (lFCS) is an agency for the dissemination of technical and scientific information concerning classification and multivariate data analysis in the broad sense and in as wide a range of applications as possible; founded in 1985 in Cambridge (UK) by the following Scientific Societies and Groups: - British Classification Society - BCS - Classification Society of North America - CSNA - Gesellschaft fUr Klassification - GfKI - Japanese Classification Society - JCS - Classification Group ofItalian Statistical Society - CGSIS - Societe Francophone de Classification - SFC Now the IFCS includes also the following Societies: - Dutch-Belgian Classification Society - VOC - Polish Classification Section - SKAD - Portuguese Classification Association - CLAD - Group at Large - Korean Classification Society - KCS IFCS-98, the Sixth Conference of the International Federation of Classification Societies, was held in Rome, from July 21 to 24, 1998. Five preceding conferences were held in Aachen (Germany), Charlottesville (USA), Edinburgh (UK), Paris (France), Kobe (Japan).