This volume presents a selection of 42 refereed and revised contributions (includ ing some invited lectures) which were presented at the 17th Annual Conference of the "Gesellschaft fur Klassifikation e. V." (GfKl), the German Classification Society. This conference was held at the University of Kaiserslautern from March 3 - 5, 1993 and jointly hosted by the Research Center for Mathematical Logic of the Heidelberg Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, the University of Kaiserslautern, and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH). The local orga nization was performed by Michael M. Richter, Wolfgang Lenski, Sabine Friedrich, Annette Klein, and Elisabeth Wette-Roch of the Computer Science Department of the University of Kaiserslautern and the Research Center for Mathematical Logic of the Heidelberg Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, respectively. The mem bers of the Scientific Program Committee were Hans-Hermann Bock, PaulO. Degens, Matthias Herfurth, Hans-Joachim Hermes, Rudiger Klar, Rudolf Mathar, Michael M. Richter, and Rudolf Wille.

Inhalt
I: Information Processing, Classification-Based Approaches, Linguistic and Conceptual Analysis.- Learning and Case-Based Reasoning.- Induction and Case-Based Reasoning for Classification Tasks.- Symbolic Learning and Nearest-Neighbor Classification.- Nonstandard Concepts of Similarity in Case-Based Reasoning.- Learning from Cases for Classification Problem Solving.- Approaches Based on Linguistic Analysis.- Methods of Phoneticizing in Regard to Spelling Variants of Medical Phrases.- Disambiguating Lexical Meaning: Conceptual meta-modelling as a means of controlling semantic language analysis.- Information Retrieval Using Conceptual Representations of Phrases.- Information Processing and Design of Information Systems.- Communication in Distributed Heterogenous Systems.- Prerequisites and Development Perspectives for Information Processing in the Social Sciences.- Aspects of Coupling Logic Programming and Databases.- Processing Scientific Networks in Bibliographic Databases.- Object-Oriented Systems Analysis Applied to the Method Component of a Knowledge-Based System for Data Analysis.- Classification Based Query Evaluation in Knowledge Base Systems.- Uncertainity and Neural Networks.- Neural Networks: Architectures, Learning and Performance.- Reasoning with Uncertainty in Diagnostic Systems.- Conceptual Approaches.- Der klassische und der moderne Begriff des Begriffs. Gedanken zur Geschichte der Begriffsbildung in den exakten Wissenschaften.- Ideas of Algebraic Concept Analysis.- Conceptual Structures in Mathematical Logic and Their Formal Representation.- II: Mathematical and Statistical Methods for Classification and Data Analysis.- Clustering and Discrimination.- Three-Mode Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of Three-Way Three-Mode Data.- The Testing of Data Structures with Graph-Theoretical Models.- Geometric Approach to Evaluating Probabilities of Correct Classification into two Gaussian or Spherical Categories.- Jackknife Estimates of Similarity Coefficients Obtained from Quadrat Sampling of Species.- Clustering Techniques in the Computing Environment XploRe.- On the Application of Discriminant Analysis in Medical Diagnostics.- Similarity Searching in Databases of Three-Dimensional Chemical Structures.- Feature Generation and Classification of Time Series.- Data Analysis Methods.- TRIPAT: a Model for Analyzing Three-Mode Binary Data.- Block-relaxation Algorithms in Statistics.- Multidimensional Scaling with lp-Distances, a Unifying Approach.- Universal Optimality of Rank Constrained Matrix Approximation.- The Analysis of Spatial Data from Marine Ecosystems.- Automatic Decomposition of Lattice Data including Missing Values and Boundaries.- III: Genome and Molecular Sequence Analysis.- Classification and Data Analysis in Genome Projects: Some Aspects of Mapping, Alignment and Tree Reconstruction.- Multiple Alignment of Protein Sequences and Construction of Evolutionary Trees based on Amino Acid Properties an Algebraic Approach.- How to Deal With Third Codon Positions in Phylogenetic Analysis.- Machine Learning for Protein Structure Prediction.- A Parallel-Processor Implementation of an Algorithm to Delineate Distantly Related Protein Sequences using Conserved Motifs and Neural Networks.- IV: Applied Data Analysis in Special Fields.- Economy and Marketing.- Knowledge-Based Selection and Application of Quantitative Models of Consumer Behavior.- Goodwill towards Domestic Products as Segmentation Criterion: An Empirical Study within the Scope of Research on Country-of-Origin Effects.- Archeology.- Merovingian Glass Beads: An Essay ofClassification.- Screening in Medicine.- Statistical Measures to Quantify the Benefit from Screening: a Case Study on Cholesterol Screening.- Evaluation of Screening in Case-Control Studies: an Alternative to Randomized Controlled Trials?.- List of Authors.