在高維度的空間中進行屬性篩選已被證明是NP完備問題(NP-complete problem)。傳統的最佳化演算法在處理大尺寸屬性篩選問題時是較沒有效率的，因此啟發式演算法廣泛使用在此類問題中。
本研究的目的在於發展出二種以粒子最佳化演算法(Particle Swarm Optimization)為基礎的方法：改良型粒子最佳化演算法使用相反符號檢驗(Opposite Sign Test)和以迴歸為基礎的粒子最佳化演算法(Regression-Based Particle Swarm Optimization)。這二種演算法可增加粒子的多變性，讓粒子最佳化演算法可以跳脫區域最佳解，以增進粒子最佳化演算法的解題能力。
為了測試與評估本研究所提出的方法，本研究從UCI機器學習資料庫選取資料，以分類正確率為指標，結果顯示本研究所提出的方法優於基因演算法(Genetic Algorithms)和循環搜尋演算法(Sequential Search Algorithms)。
此外，本研究使用睡眠呼吸中止症的實際資料，來說明本研究提出的方法的有效性。結果顯示本方法可做睡眠呼吸中止症早期診斷工具，使醫療資源獲得更有效的利用。

Searching for an optimal feature subset from a high-dimensional feature space is an NP-complete problem; hence, traditional optimization algorithms are inefficient when solving large-scale feature selection problems. Therefore, meta-heuristic algorithms are extensively adopted to solve such problems efficiently. This study proposes two approaches: opposite sign test and regression-based particle swarm optimization for feature selection problem. The proposed algorithms can increase population diversity and avoid local optimal trapping by improving the jump ability of flying particles. The data sets collected from UCI machine learning data bases are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. Classification accuracy is used as a criterion to evaluate classifier performance. Results show that our proposed approaches outperform both genetic algorithms and sequential search algorithms.
In addition, a real case about the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using the proposed approach is presented. Through the implementation of this real case study, we found that the proposed approach could be applied as a screening tool for early OSA diagnosis. As a result, PSO can be applied to assist doctors in foreseeing the diagnosis of OSA before running the PSG test, allowing the medical resources to be used more effectively.

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