close
Skip to main content
Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2020 May 15;1238:151–164. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-50143-3_12

Learning Sets of Bayesian Networks

Andrés Cano 8, Manuel Gómez-Olmedo 8, Serafín Moral 8,
Editors: Marie-Jeanne Lesot6, Susana Vieira7, Marek Z Reformat8, João Paulo Carvalho9, Anna Wilbik10, Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier11, Ronald R Yager12
PMCID: PMC7274759

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of learning a generalized credal network (a set of Bayesian networks) from a dataset. It is based on using the BDEu score and computes all the networks with score above a predetermined factor of the optimal one. To avoid the problem of determining the equivalent sample size (ESS), the approach also considers the possibility of an undetermined ESS. Even if the final result is a set of Bayesian networks, the paper also studies the problem of selecting a single network with some alternative procedures. Finally, some preliminary experiments are carried out with three small networks.

Keywords: Generalized credal networks, Learning, Likelihood regions, Probabilistic graphical models

Introduction

Probabilistic graphical models [17] and in particular Bayesian networks have been very successful for representing and reasoning in problems with several uncertain variables. The development of procedures to learn a Bayesian network from a dataset of observations [16] is one the most important reasons of this success. Usually, learning is carried out by selecting a score measuring the adequacy of a model given the data and optimizing it in the space of models. However, in most of the situations the selection of a single Bayesian network is not justified as there are many models that explain the data with a similar degree, being the selection of an optimal network a somewhat arbitrary choice [7]. For this reason, recently, there has been some effort in computing a set of possible models instead of selecting a single one [12]. The idea is to compute all the models with a score within a given factor of the optimal one. In this paper we will follow this line, but interpreting the result as a generalized credal network: a set of Bayesian networks which do not necessarily share the same graph [13]. The term credal network was introduced [6] for a set of Bayesian networks over a single graph (there is imprecision only in the parameters). The overall procedure is based on the general framework introduced in [15], where it is proposed a justification based on sets of desirable gambles [5, 18, 22] for the selection of a set of models instead of a single one, following the lines of Gärdenfors and Shalin [8] and Inline graphic-cut conditioning by Cattaneo [2].

The basic criterion used for learning is the so called BDEu score [9]. This score needs a parameter, the equivalent sample size (ESS), which is usually arbitrarily selected in practice with a value between 1 and 10. However, there are results showing that the final network can have a dependence on the ESS, producing more dense networks when it is higher [4, 14, 21]. For this reason, our approach will also consider the possibility of imprecision due to an undetermined ESS.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides the basic theoretical framework for our problem. Section 3 describes the algorithms used in the computation. Section 4 is devoted to the experiments. Finally, the conclusions and future work are in Sect. 5.

Learning Imprecise Models

Given a set of variables, Inline graphic, a Bayesian network [17] is a pair Inline graphic, where G is a directed acyclic graph such that each node represents a variable, and Inline graphic is the set of parameters: a conditional probability distribution for each variable Inline graphic given its parents in the graph, Inline graphic, denoted as Inline graphic or as Inline graphic when we want to make reference to the associated model. It will be assumed that each variable Inline graphic takes values on a finite set with Inline graphic possible values. A generic value for variable Inline graphic is denoted by Inline graphic and a generic value for all the variables Inline graphic is denoted as Inline graphic. An assignation of a concrete value to each variable in Inline graphic is called a configuration and denoted as Inline graphic. The number of possible configurations of Inline graphic is denoted by Inline graphic. There is a joint probability distribution for variables Inline graphic associated with a Bayesian network Inline graphic that will be denoted as Inline graphic and that is equal to the product Inline graphic.

We will consider that we have a set of full observations Inline graphic for all the variables in Inline graphic. Given a graph G, Inline graphic will denote the number of observations in Inline graphic where Inline graphic and its parents Inline graphic take the jth configuration, Inline graphic, whereas n will be the total sample size. In the framework for learning proposed in [15], it is assumed that we have the following elements:

  • A set of parameters Inline graphic that corresponds to the space of possible decisions. In our case, Inline graphic is the set of pairs (Gs), where G is a direct acyclic graph, and s is a possible ESS belonging to a finite set of values, S. For example, in our experiments we have considered Inline graphic. We assume a finite set instead of a continuous interval for computational reasons.

  • A set of parameters B, and a conditional probability distribution Inline graphic specifying the probability on B for each value of the parameter Inline graphic. In our case the set B is the list of conditional probability distributions Inline graphic, where the probability values of the conditional distribution of Inline graphic given the jth configuration of the parents are denoted by Inline graphic (i.e. Inline graphic). It is assumed that each Inline graphic follows an independent Dirichlet distribution Inline graphic. The set of all parameters Inline graphic will be denoted by Inline graphic.

  • A conditional distribution for an observation of the variables Inline graphic given a pair Inline graphic (in our case, given Gs and Inline graphic). The probability of observing Inline graphic is the product Inline graphic, where Inline graphic is the configuration of the parents compatible with the observation, and Inline graphic represents the subscript of the observed value for Inline graphic.

In this setting, a set of observations Inline graphic, defines a likelihood function L in Inline graphic, which is given at the general case by,

graphic file with name M53.gif 1

In the particular case of learning generalized credal networks, we have that this likelihood is identical to the well known BDEu score [9] for learning Bayesian networks:

graphic file with name M54.gif 2

The score for Inline graphic as set of parents of Inline graphic is the value:

graphic file with name M57.gif 3

It is immediate that Inline graphic. Finally, a generalized uniform distribution on Inline graphic is considered given in terms of a coherent set of desirable gambles [15]. When Inline graphic is finite as in this case, associated credal set only contains the uniform probability, but when Inline graphic is a continuous interval is quite different from the usual uniform density. Then a discounting is considered of this prior information on Inline graphic given by a value Inline graphic. This discounting is a generalization of the Inline graphic discounting of a belief function [20]. After the observations are obtained, the model is conditioned to them, obtaining a posterior information on Inline graphic. It is assumed that the set of decisions is equivalent to the set of parameters Inline graphic and the problem is solved by computing all un-dominated decisions under a 0–1 loss (details in [15]). Finally, in our case the set of un-dominated decisions is the set of parameters (Gs) such that:

graphic file with name M67.gif

where Inline graphic and Inline graphic is the pair maximizing the likelihood L(Gs) for Inline graphic. The set of parameters satisfying the above inequality is denoted by Inline graphic and defines what we shall call the set of possible models.

In the following, we will use the value Inline graphic which is computed as a continuous decreasing function from [0, 1] into [0, 1] and that determines the factor of the maximum entropy model which makes (GS) non-dominated.

Given a parameter (Gs), the model for Inline graphic is given by the Bayesian network Inline graphic, where Inline graphic is the Bayesian estimation of Inline graphic (expected value of Inline graphic given (Gs) and Inline graphic), and which can be computed in closed form by the well known expression:

graphic file with name M79.gif 4

The probability distribution associated with Inline graphic will be also denoted as Inline graphic1. Finally the set of possible models (a generalized credal network) is the set of Bayesian networks:

graphic file with name M82.gif 5

and where Inline graphic is the set of parameters given by Eq. (4).

Though, in our opinion, the result of learning should be the set Inline graphic, in some cases, it is interesting to select a single model. For example, we have carried out experiments in which we want to compare this approach to learning with a Bayesian procedure that always selects a single network. For this aim we have considered two approaches:

  • Maximum Entropy: We select the pair Inline graphic maximizing the entropy, where the entropy of a model Inline graphic is given by:
    graphic file with name M87.gif 6
  • Minimum of Maximum Kullback-Leibler Divergence: If Inline graphic and Inline graphic are two models, then the Kullback-Leibler divergence of Inline graphic to Inline graphic is given by the expression:
    graphic file with name M92.gif 7
    Then, for each model Inline graphic, the following value is computed:
    graphic file with name M94.gif
    Finally, the model Inline graphic minimizing Inline graphic is selected.

Algorithms

Given a set of observations Inline graphic and a value of Inline graphic, our aim is to compute the set of Bayesian networks given by Eq. (5), where Inline graphic. For this we have taken as basis the pgmpy package in which basic procedures for inference and learning with Bayesian networks are implemented [1].

Our first algorithm AllScores(ESS, Inline graphic) computes the set of possible parents as well as the logarithm of their scores for each variable Inline graphic, for each sample size Inline graphic and for a given value of Inline graphic, being denoted this set as Inline graphic.

To do it, we compute the value of Inline graphic following Eq. (3) for each set Inline graphic, storing the pair Inline graphic, but taking into account the following pruning rules as in [12]:

  • If Inline graphic and Inline graphic, then Inline graphic is not added to Inline graphic as there can not be a model in Inline graphic with this set of parents.

  • If Inline graphic and Inline graphic, where Inline graphic is the number of configurations of Inline graphic with Inline graphic, then Inline graphic is not added to Inline graphic and none of the supersets of Inline graphic is considered as possible set of parents for Inline graphic.

Once AllScores(S, Inline graphic) computes Inline graphic for any Inline graphic and any variable Inline graphic, then an AInline graphic algorithm is applied to compute all the order relationships Inline graphic in Inline graphic and values Inline graphic such that there is a pair (Gs) in Inline graphic with Inline graphic. For this we introduce two modifications of the algorithm proposed in [10]: a value Inline graphic has been considered and we compute not only the order with the optimal value but also all the orders within a factor Inline graphic of the optimal one.

A partial order Inline graphic is given by the values Inline graphic for Inline graphic (only the first k values are specified). A partial order can be defined for values Inline graphic. For Inline graphic we have a full order and for Inline graphic the empty order. A graph G is compatible with a partial order Inline graphic when Inline graphic for Inline graphic. Given an ESS s and Inline graphic, it is possible to give an upper bound for the logarithm of the score of all the orders Inline graphic that are extensions of Inline graphic and which is given by,

graphic file with name M146.gif 8

where Inline graphic is the best score stored in Inline graphic, between those set of parents Inline graphic, i.e. we select the parents compatible with partial order Inline graphic for variables Inline graphic and the rest of the set of parents are chosen in an arbitrary way.

Our algorithm is applied to nodes Inline graphic, where Inline graphic is a set Inline graphic for a partial order Inline graphic, s is a value in S, score is the value of Inline graphic, and up is a reference to the node Inline graphic such that Inline graphic is obtained by extending partial order Inline graphic with the value Inline graphic.

The AInline graphic algorithm is initiated with a priority queue with a node for each possible value of Inline graphic, Inline graphic, where score is obtained by applying Eq. (8) to partial order Inline graphic (empty partial order). The algorithm stores a value B which is the best score obtained so far for a complete order (which is equal to the score of the first complete order selected from the priority queue) and H(As) which is the best score obtained so far for a node Inline graphic where Inline graphic. Let us note that for a node Inline graphic it is always possible to recover its corresponding partial order Inline graphic as we have that Inline graphic where Inline graphic is the set appearing in node Inline graphic referenced by up, and the rest of values can be recursively found by applying the same operation of the node Inline graphic.

The algorithm proceeds selecting the node with highest score from the priority queue while the priority queue is not empty and Inline graphic. If this node is Inline graphic, then if it is complete (Inline graphic), the node is added to the set of solution nodes. In the case it is not complete then all the nodes Inline graphic obtained by adding one variable Inline graphic, in Inline graphic Inline graphic Inline graphic to Inline graphic are computed, where Inline graphic points to former node Inline graphic and the value of Inline graphic is calculated taking into account that

graphic file with name M185.gif 9

The new node is added to the priority queue if and only if Inline graphic. In any case the value of Inline graphic is updated if Inline graphic.

Once AInline graphic is finished, we have a set of solution nodes Inline graphic. For each one of these nodes we compute their associated order Inline graphic and then the order is expanded in a set of networks. Details are given in Algorithm 1. In that algorithm, Inline graphic is the set of pairs Inline graphic such that Inline graphic, and t is Inline graphic.graphic file with name 500672_1_En_12_Figa_HTML.jpg

The algorithm is initially called with a list L with a pair (Gu) where G is the empty graph, u is the value of score in the solution node Inline graphic and with Inline graphic. It works in the following way: it considers pairs (Gu), where G is a partial graph (parents for variables Inline graphic have been selected, but not for the rest of variables) and u is the best score that could be achieved if the optimal selection of parents is done for the variables Inline graphic. Then, the possible candidates for parents of variable Inline graphic are considered. If Inline graphic is a possible candidate set with a score of t and the optimal set of parents for this variable is T, then if this parent set is chosen, then Inline graphic is lost with respect to the optimal selection. If u was the previous optimal value, now it is Inline graphic. This set of parents can be selected only if Inline graphic; in that case, the new graph Inline graphic obtained from G by adding links from Inline graphic to Inline graphic is considered with optimal value Inline graphic. The algorithm proceeds by expanding all the new partial graphs obtained this way, by assigning parents to the next variable, Inline graphic.

Finally we compute the list of all the graphs associated to the result of the algorithm for any solution node Inline graphic with the corresponding value s. In this list, it is possible that the same graph is repeated with identical value of s (the same graph can be obtained with two different order of variables). To avoid repetitions a cleaning step is carried out in order to remove the repetitions of identical pairs (Gs). This is the final set of non-dominated set of parameters Inline graphic. Finally the set of possible models Inline graphic is the set of Bayesian networks Inline graphic that are computed for each pair Inline graphic where Inline graphic has been obtained by applying Eq. (4).

The number of graphs compatible with an order computed by this algorithm can be very large. The size of L is initially equal to 1, and for each variable Inline graphic in Inline graphic, this number is increased in the different calls to Expand Inline graphic,Inline graphic,B,s,L,k). The increasing depends of the number of set of parents in Q (computed in lines 9–10 of the algorithm). If for each, (Gu), we denote by NU(Gu) the cardinality of Q, then the new cardinality of Inline graphic is given by:

graphic file with name M221.gif

Observe that if NU(Gu) is always equal to k, then the final number of networks is Inline graphic, and the complexity is exponential. However, in the experiments we have observed that this number is not very large (in the low size networks we have considered) as the cardinality of sets Q is decreasing for most of the pairs (Gu) when k increases, as the values Inline graphic associated with the new pairs Inline graphic in Inline graphic are always lower than the value u in the pair (Gu) giving rise to them (see line 13 in the algorithm).

Above this, we have implemented some basic methods for computing the entropy of the probability distribution associated with a Bayesian network Inline graphic and the Kullback-Leibler divergence from a model Inline graphic to another one Inline graphic given by Inline graphic. For that, following [11, Theorem 8.5], we have implemented a function computing Inline graphic given by:

graphic file with name M231.gif

For this computation, we take into account that Inline graphic, where Inline graphic is a generic configuration of the parents Inline graphic of Inline graphic in G, obtaining the following expression:

graphic file with name M236.gif

In this expression, Inline graphic is directly available in Bayesian network Inline graphic, but Inline graphic is not and have to be computed by means of propagation algorithms in Bayesian network Inline graphic. This is done with a variable elimination algorithm for each configuration of the parents Inline graphic, entering it as evidence and computing the result for variable Inline graphic without normalization. This provides the desired value Inline graphic.

Finally, the values of entropy and Kullback-Leibler divergence are computed as follows:

graphic file with name M244.gif
graphic file with name M245.gif

Experiments

To test the methods proposed in this paper we have carried out a series of experiments with 3 small networks obtained from the Bayesian networks repository in bnlearn web page [19]. The networks are: Cancer (5 nodes, 10 parameters), Earthquake (5 nodes, 10 parameters), and Survey (6 nodes, 21 parameters). The main reason for not using larger networks was the complexity associated to compute the Kullback-Leibler divergence for all the pairs of possible models. This is a really challenging problem, as if the number of networks is T, then Inline graphic divergences must be computed, and each one of them, involves a significant number of propagation algorithms computing joint probability distributions. So, at this stage the use of large networks is not feasible to select the network with minimum maximum KL divergence to the rest of possible networks.

Experiment 1

In this case, we have considered a set of possible values for ESS, Inline graphic 1.0, 2.0,  Inline graphic, and we have repeated 200 times the following sequence:

  • A dataset of size 500 is simulated from the original network.

  • The set of possible networks is computed with a value of Inline graphic.

  • The maximum entropy network (MEntropy), the minimum of maximum Kullback-Leibler divergence (MinMaxKL), and the maximum score network for all the sample sizes (Bayesian) are computed. For all of them the Kullback-Leibler divergence with the original one are also computed, as well as the maximum (MaxKL) and minimum divergence (MinKL) of all the possible models with the original one.

The means of the divergences of the estimated models can be seen in Table 1. We can observe as the usual method for learning Bayesian networks (considering the graph with highest score) gives rise to a network with a divergence between the maximum and minimum of the divergences of all the possible networks, and that the average is higher than the middle of the interval determined by the averages of the minimum and the maximum. This supports the idea that the Bayesian procedure somewhat makes an arbitrary selection among a set of networks that are all plausible given the data. This idea is also supported by Fig. 1 in which the density of the Bayesian, MinKL, and MaxKL divergences are depicted for each one of the networks2. On it we can see the similarities between the densities of these three values: of course the MinKL density is a bit biased to the left and MaxKL density to the right, being the Bayesian density in the middle, but with very small differences. This again supports the idea that all the computed models should be considered as result of the learning process.

Table 1.

Means of divergences of estimated models and the original one

Network Bayesian MinKL MaxKL MEntroKL MinMaxKL
Cancer 0.013026 0.011225 0.014126 0.012712 0.012270
Earthquake 0.017203 0.013132 0.019769 0.016784 0.016072
Survey 0.031459 0.028498 0.033899 0.031257 0.030932

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Density for the Bayesian, minimum, and maximum Kullback-Leibler divergences.

When selecting a single model, we also show that our alternative methods based on considering a family of possible models and then selecting the one with maximum entropy or minimum of maximum of Kullback-Leibler divergence produce networks with a lower divergence on average to the original one than the usual Bayesian procedure. We have carried out a Friedman non-parametric test and in the three networks the differences are significant (p-values: 0.000006, 0.0159, 0.0023, for Cancer, Earthquake, and Survey networks, respectively). In a posthoc Friedman-Nemenyi test, the differences between MinMaxKL and Bayesian are significant in Cancer and Survey networks (p-values: 0.027, 0.017) but not in Cancer (p-value: 0.1187). The differences of MaxEntropy and the Bayesian procedure are not significant.

Experiment 2

In this case, we have a similar setting than in Experiment 1, but what we have measured is the number of networks that are obtained by our procedure (number of elements in Inline graphic) and the distribution of the number of networks by each ESS Inline graphic. In Fig. 2 we can see the densities of the number of networks (left) and the figure with the averages of the networks by each Inline graphic. First, we can observe that the number of possible networks is low in average (below 5) for our selection of networks, Inline graphic, and sample size, but that the right queue of the densities is somewhat large, existing cases in which the number of possible networks is 20 or more. With respect to the number of networks by value of ESS s, the most important fact is that the distribution of networks by ESS is highly dependent of the network, being the networks for Survey obtained with much higher values of s than in the case of Cancer or Earthquake. This result puts in doubt the usual practice of selecting a value of s when learning a Bayesian network without thinking that this does not have an effect in the final result.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.

Densities of the number of networks (left) and average number of networks by ESS (right).

Experiment 3

In this case, we compare the results of selecting a unique network by fixing a value of s (the optimal one for this value) with the result of selecting the parameter s and the network G optimizing the score. We again repeat a similar experiment to the other two cases, but we compute the networks: the Bayesian network, given by the pair (Gs) with highest score (the Bayesian approach in Experiment 1), and the best graph for each one of the values Inline graphic. For each one of the networks we compute the Kullback-Leibler divergence with the original one. The results of the averages of these divergences are depicted in Fig. 3 for each one of the networks. The dashed line represents the average of the divergence pair (Gs) with best score. On it, we can see that selecting the pair with best score is a good idea in Cancer network, as it produces an average divergence approximately equal to the best selection of value of s, but that is not the case of Earthquake and Survey networks, as there are many selections of s producing networks with lowest divergences than the divergence of the pair with best score. For this reason, is not always a good idea to select the equivalent sample size by using an empirical likelihood approach (the sample size giving rise to greatest likelihood). Other observation is that the shape of the densities of the divergences is quite different by network. For example, in Survey the lowest divergences are obtained with the highest values of s, while in Cancer a minimum is obtained for a low sample size of 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

Kulback Leibler of the best network and the best network by ESS s.

Experiment 4

In this case we have tested the evolution of the number of possible networks (elements in Inline graphic) as a function of the sample size. For this aim, instead of fixing a sample size of 500, we have repeated the generation of a sample and the estimation of the models Inline graphic for different samples sizes (Inline graphic 1000, 2000, 5000,  10000, 20000, 40000) and for each value of n we have compute the number of models in Inline graphic (repeating it 200 times). Finally Fig. 4 shows the average number of models for each sample size. As it can be expected the number of models decreases when the sample size increases, very fast at the beginning and more slowly afterwards. In some cases, there are minor increasings in the average number of models when the sample size increases. We think that this is due to the fact that the density of the number of models has a long queue to the right, existing the possibility of obtaining some few cases with a high number of models. This fact can produce this small local irregularities.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.

Evolution of the number of possible networks as a function of the sample size.

Conclusions and Future Work

In this paper we have applied the general procedure proposed in Moral [15] to learn a generalized credal network (a set of possible Bayesian networks) given a dataset of observations. We have implemented algorithms for its computation and we have shown that the results applied to learning from samples simulated from small networks are promising. In particular, our main conclusion is that the usual procedure of selecting a network with the highest score does not make too much sense, when there is a set of networks that are equally plausible and that represents probability distributions with a similar divergence to the one associated with the true network. Even in this family, we can find networks using other alternative procedures with smaller divergences to the original one, as the case of considering the minimum of the maximum of Kullback-Leibler divergences in the family of possible models.

Our plans for future work are mainly related to making scalable the proposed procedures and algorithms. When the number of variables increases a direct application of the methods in this paper can be unfeasible. We could try to use more accurate bounds to prune AInline graphic search [3], but even so, the number of networks for a threshold could be too large to be computed. Experiments in this line are necessary. Then it would be convenient to develop approximations that could learn a set of significant networks from the full family of possible ones. Other line of research is to integrate several networks into a more compact representation: for example if a group of networks share the same structure with different probabilities try to represent it as a credal network with imprecision in the probabilities.

Other important task is to try to use the set of possible models to answer structural questions, as: is there a link from Inline graphic to Inline graphic? An obvious way to answer it is to see whether this link is present in all the networks of set of learned models, in none of the networks, or in some of them but not in all. In that case, the answer could be yes, no, or possibly. But a theoretical study justifying this or alternative decision rules would be necessary, as well as algorithms designed to answer these questions without an explicit construction of the full set of models.

Footnotes

1

In fact, this probability also depends on Inline graphic, but we do not include it to simplify the notation.

2

Plotted with Python seaborn package.

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under project TIN2016-77902-C3-2-P, and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).

Contributor Information

Marie-Jeanne Lesot, Email: marie-jeanne.lesot@lip6.fr.

Susana Vieira, Email: susana.vieira@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.

Marek Z. Reformat, Email: marek.reformat@ualberta.ca

João Paulo Carvalho, Email: joao.carvalho@inesc-id.pt.

Anna Wilbik, Email: a.m.wilbik@tue.nl.

Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, Email: bernadette.bouchon-meunier@lip6.fr.

Ronald R. Yager, Email: yager@panix.com

Andrés Cano, Email: acu@decsai.ugr.es.

Manuel Gómez-Olmedo, Email: mgomez@decsai.ugr.es.

Serafín Moral, Email: smc@decsai.ugr.es.

References

  • 1.Ankan, A., Panda, A.: pgmpy: Probabilistic graphical models using Python. In: Proceedings of the 14th Python in Science Conference (SCIPY 2015). Citeseer (2015). 10.25080/Majora-7b98e3ed-001
  • 2.Cattaneo MEGV. A continuous updating rule for imprecise probabilities. In: Laurent A, Strauss O, Bouchon-Meunier B, Yager RR, editors. Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems; Cham: Springer; 2014. pp. 426–435. [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Correia, A.H., Cussens, J., de Campos, C.P.: On pruning for score-based Bayesian network structure learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:1905.09943 (2019)
  • 4.Correia, A.H.C., de Campos, C.P., van der Gaag, L.C.: An experimental study of prior dependence in Bayesian network structure learning. In: International Symposium on Imprecise Probabilities: Theories and Applications, pp. 78–81 (2019)
  • 5.Couso I, Moral S. Sets of desirable gambles: conditioning, representation, and precise probabilities. Int. J. Approximate Reasoning. 2011;52(7):1034–1055. doi: 10.1016/j.ijar.2011.04.004. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Cozman F. Credal networks. Artif. Intell. 2000;120:199–233. doi: 10.1016/S0004-3702(00)00029-1. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 7.Friedman N, Koller D. Being Bayesian about network structure. A Bayesian approach to structure discovery in Bayesian networks. Mach. Learn. 2003;50:95–125. doi: 10.1023/A:1020249912095. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 8.Gärdenfors P, Sahlin NE. Unreliable probabilities, risk taking, and decision making. Synthese. 1982;53(3):361–386. doi: 10.1007/BF00486156. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 9.Heckerman D, Geiger D, Chickering DM. Learning Bayesian networks: The combination of knowledge and statistical data. Mach. Learn. 1995;20(3):197–243. doi: 10.1023/A:1022623210503. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 10.Karan, S., Zola, J.: Exact structure learning of Bayesian networks by optimal path extension. In: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), pp. 48–55. IEEE (2016). 10.1109/BigData.2016.7840588
  • 11.Koller D, Friedman N. Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques. Cambridge: MIT press; 2009. [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Liao, Z.A., Sharma, C., Cussens, J., van Beek, P.: Finding all Bayesian network structures within a factor of optimal. In: Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 33, pp. 7892–7899 (2019). 10.1609/aaai.v33i01.33017892
  • 13.Masegosa AR, Moral S. Imprecise probability models for learning multinomial distributions from data. Applications to learning credal networks. Int. J. Approximate Reasoning. 2014;55(7):1548–1569. doi: 10.1016/j.ijar.2013.09.019. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 14.Moral, S.: An empirical comparison of score measures for independence. In: Proceedings of the 10th IPMU International Conference, pp. 1307–1314 (2004)
  • 15.Moral S. Learning with imprecise probabilities as model selection and averaging. Int. J. Approximate Reasoning. 2019;109:111–124. doi: 10.1016/j.ijar.2019.04.001. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 16.Neapolitan R. Learning Bayesian Networks. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall; 2004. [Google Scholar]
  • 17.Pearl J. Probabilistic Reasoning with Intelligent Systems. San Mateo: Morgan & Kaufman; 1988. [Google Scholar]
  • 18.Quaeghebeur, E.: Desirability. In: Introduction to Imprecise Probabilities, chap. 1, pp. 1–27. Wiley (2014). 10.1002/9781118763117.ch1
  • 19.Scutari, M.: Bayesian network repository of bnlearn (2007). https://www.bnlearn.com/bnrepository/
  • 20.Shafer G. A Mathematical Theory of Evidence. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1976. [Google Scholar]
  • 21.Silander, T., Kontkanen, P., Myllymäki, P.: On sensitivity of the MAP Bayesian network structure to the equivalent sample size parameter. In: Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, pp. 360–367. AUAI Press (2007)
  • 22.Walley P. Towards a unified theory of imprecise probability. Int. J. Approximate Reasoning. 2000;24:125–148. doi: 10.1016/S0888-613X(00)00031-1. [DOI] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES