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The amount of features in handwritten digit data is often very large due to the different aspects in personal handwriting, leading to high-dimensional data. Therefore, the employment of a feature selection algorithm becomes crucial for successful classification modeling, because the inclusion of irrelevant or redundant features can mislead the modeling algorithms, resulting in overfitting and decrease in efficiency.

The minimum redundancy and maximum relevance (mRMR) and the recursive feature elimination (RFE) are two frequently used feature selection algorithms. While mRMR is capable of identifying a subset of features that are highly relevant to the targeted classification variable, mRMR still carries the weakness of capturing redundant features along with the algorithm. On the other hand, RFE is flawed by the fact that those features selected by RFE are not ranked by importance, albeit RFE can effectively eliminate the less important features and exclude redundant features.

The hybrid method was exemplified in a binary classification between digits “4” and “9” and between digits “6” and “8” from a multiple features dataset. The result showed that the hybrid mRMR +  support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVMRFE) is better than both the sole support vector machine (SVM) and mRMR.

In view of the respective strength and deficiency mRMR and RFE, this study combined both these methods and used an SVM as the underlying classifier anticipating the mRMR to make an excellent complement to the SVMRFE.

Outlines Hong Kong’s financial system during the pre‐unification era. Looks at recent issues, regulatory changes and its development as an international financial centre. Considers banking, the stock market, the bond & futures market, the gold market, regulatory bodies and monetary and currency policies. Contrasts these with the pre‐unification system in China. Outlines the way that these two systems propose to exist together, looking at the potential benefits and problems this may bring.

In the light of the property relativist theory, the purpose of this paper is to review the impact of radical amendments to strata legislation in Singapore in 1999 which, together with changes to the planning framework, stimulated private‐sector led redevelopment in Singapore. This was achieved through the introduction of majority rule (rather than unanimity) in collective sales (CS) of strata developments. The paper also addresses the issue of how a balance can be achieved between the property rights of majority and minority strata owners.

The paper uses case‐studies, planning provisions, and data on property transactions to analyse the effectiveness of the measures taken to address Singapore's land‐scarcity problem. Legal terms and their significance are addressed in a manner that will also be comprehensible to a non‐legally trained readership.

The cases demonstrate attempts by the authorities to clarify, and to provide a better balance to, the position of those whose property rights had been sacrificed at the altar of redevelopment and urban rejuvenation in Singapore. Nevertheless, there still remain numerous pockets of resistance to CS. These still need to be addressed to reassure the minority in the context of the property relativist theory.

The continued groundswell of protests against collective sale means that there are further issues that need to be addressed to mitigate the plight of the minority. The response of parliament has been reactive, but it remains to be seen whether the minority's concerns have been adequately addressed.

The analysis of the cases, whose decisions turned on the authorities' interpretation of the controversial legislation, is instructive. These can provide valuable pointers for policy makers in other jurisdictions contemplating urban rejuvenation. The twin issues that are dealt with relate to how private‐sector redevelopment can be incentivised through planning measures, without riding roughshod over individuals' private property rights.