The partial least squares method has many advantages in multivariable linear regression, but it does not include the function of feature selection. This method cannot screen for the best feature subset (referred to in this study as the “Gold Standard”) or optimize the model, although contrarily using the L1 norm can achieve the sparse representation of parameters, leading to feature selection. In this study, a feature selection method based on partial least squares is proposed. In the new method, exploiting partial least squares allows extraction of the latent variables required for performing multivariable linear regression, and this method applies the L1 regular term constraint to the sum of the absolute values of the regression coefficients. This technique is then combined with the coordinate descent method to perform multiple iterations to select a better feature subset. Analyzing traditional Chinese medicine data and University of California, Irvine (UCI), datasets with the model, the experimental results show that the feature selection method based on partial least squares exhibits preferable adaptability for traditional Chinese medicine data and UCI datasets.

The basic experimental data of traditional Chinese medicine are generally obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The data often show the characteristics of high dimensionality and few samples, and there are many irrelevant features and redundant features in the data, which bring challenges to the in-depth exploration of Chinese medicine material information. A hybrid feature selection method based on iterative approximate Markov blanket (CI_AMB) is proposed in the paper. The method uses the maximum information coefficient to measure the correlation between features and target variables and achieves the purpose of filtering irrelevant features according to the evaluation criteria, firstly. The iterative approximation Markov blanket strategy analyzes the redundancy between features and implements the elimination of redundant features and then selects an effective feature subset finally. Comparative experiments using traditional Chinese medicine material basic experimental data and UCI’s multiple public datasets show that the new method has a better advantage to select a small number of highly explanatory features, compared with Lasso, XGBoost, and the classic approximate Markov blanket method.

Abstract. Human's body shape classification is the basis apparel digital processing and manufacturing. Human neck's morphology is a critical factor that influences the fitness and comfort of apparel's collar. In this paper, 300 young men, aged from 20 to 25, are measured by means of the 3D Interactive Body Scanning Instrument (TecMath).The Statistic data of the measurements are processed and analyzed, and according to the characteristic indexes, the male neck morphology is subdivided into 9 types. This result will provide technological parameter for designing the apparel's collar and made-to-measure (MTM) apparels.