“…In the first stage, we deal with the problem of identifying subsets of important features, which will be used as inputs to the second stage for building a stacking model. In order to perform feature selection, researchers have applied several metaheuristic algorithms, including ant colony optimization (Ali Jan Ghasab et al, 2015;Goodarzi et al, 2009), particle swarm optimization (Gunasundari et al, 2016;Xue et al, 2014), and genetic algorithm (Garc ıa-Nieto et al, 2009;Jiang et al, 2017;Tsai and Hsiao, 2010;Urraca et al, 2015). We have chosen the genetic algorithm as the search strategy for feature selection since it is known for its capability in exploring solution space in combinatorial optimization problems (Gen and Cheng, 2000).…”