Markov Blanket Feature Selection Using Representative Sets

It has received much attention in recent years to use Markov blankets in a Bayesian network for feature selection. The Markov blanket of a class attribute in a Bayesian network is a unique yet minimal feature subset for optimal feature selection if the probability distribution of a data set can be faithfully represented by this Bayesian network. However, if a data set violates the faithful condition, Markov blankets of a class attribute may not be unique. To tackle this issue, in this paper, we propose a new concept of representative sets and then design the selection via group alpha-investing (SGAI) algorithm to perform Markov blanket feature selection with representative sets for classification. Using a comprehensive set of real data, our empirical studies have demonstrated that SGAI outperforms the state-of-the-art Markov blanket feature selectors and other well-established feature selection methods.