In this first edition book, methods are discussed for doing inference in Bayesian networks and inference diagrams. Hundreds of examples and problems allow readers to grasp the information. Some of the topics discussed include Pearl's message passing algorithm, Parameter Learning: 2 Alternatives, Parameter Learning r Alternatives, Bayesian Structure Learning, and Constraint-Based Learning. For expert systems developers and decision theorists.

This book is an edited volume, the goal of which is to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art in statistical methods applied to problems in structural bioinformatics (and in particular protein structure prediction, simulation, experimental structure determination and analysis). It focuses on statistical methods that have a clear interpretation in the framework of statistical physics, rather than ad hoc, black box methods based on neural networks or support vector machines. In addition, the emphasis is on methods that deal with biomolecular structure in atomic detail. The book is highly accessible, and only assumes background knowledge on protein structure, with a minimum of mathematical knowledge. Therefore, the book includes introductory chapters that contain a solid introduction to key topics such as Bayesian statistics and concepts in machine learning and statistical physics.

This book provides a thorough introduction to the formal foundations and practical applications of Bayesian networks. It provides an extensive discussion of techniques for building Bayesian networks that model real-world situations, including techniques for synthesizing models from design, learning models from data, and debugging models using sensitivity analysis. It also treats exact and approximate inference algorithms at both theoretical and practical levels. The author assumes very little background on the covered subjects, supplying in-depth discussions for theoretically inclined readers and enough practical details to provide an algorithmic cookbook for the system developer.

This book is the first systematic treatment of Bayesian nonparametric methods and the theory behind them. It will also appeal to statisticians in general. The book is primarily aimed at graduate students and can be used as the text for a graduate course in Bayesian non-parametrics.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, ECSQARU 2007. Coverage in the 78 revised full papers, presented together with three invited papers, includes Bayesian networks, graphical models, learning causal networks, planning, causality and independence, preference modeling and decision, argumentation systems, inconsistency handling, and uncertainty measures.

This book is probably best summarized as providing a principled foundation for Learning Classi?er Systems. Something is happening in LCS, and particularly XCS and its variants that clearly often produces good results. Jan Drug- itsch wishes to understand this from a broader machine learning perspective and thereby perhaps to improve the systems. His approach centers on choosing a statistical de?nition – derived from machine learning – of “a good set of cl- si?ers”, based on a model according to which such a set represents the data. For an illustration of this approach, he designs the model to be close to XCS, and tests it by evolving a set of classi?ers using that de?nition as a ?tness criterion, seeing ifthe setprovidesa goodsolutionto twodi?erent function approximation problems. It appears to, meaning that in some sense his de?nition of “good set of classi?ers” (also, in his terms, a good model structure) captures the essence, in machine learning terms, of what XCS is doing. In the process of designing the model, the author describes its components and their training in clear detail and links it to currently used LCS, giving rise to recommendations for how those LCS can directly gain from the design of the model and its probabilistic formulation. The seeming complexity of evaluating the quality ofa set ofclassi?ersis alleviatedby giving analgorithmicdescription of how to do it, which is carried out via a simple Pittsburgh-style LCS.

Disk contains: Tool for building Bayesian networks -- Library of examples -- Library of proposed solutions to some exercises.

A Single Cohesive Framework of Tools and Procedures for Psychometrics and Assessment Bayesian Psychometric Modeling presents a unified Bayesian approach across traditionally separate families of psychometric models. It shows that Bayesian techniques, as alternatives to conventional approaches, offer distinct and profound advantages in achieving many goals of psychometrics. Adopting a Bayesian approach can aid in unifying seemingly disparate—and sometimes conflicting—ideas and activities in psychometrics. This book explains both how to perform psychometrics using Bayesian methods and why many of the activities in psychometrics align with Bayesian thinking. The first part of the book introduces foundational principles and statistical models, including conceptual issues, normal distribution models, Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation, and regression. Focusing more directly on psychometrics, the second part covers popular psychometric models, including classical test theory, factor analysis, item response theory, latent class analysis, and Bayesian networks. Throughout the book, procedures are illustrated using examples primarily from educational assessments. A supplementary website provides the datasets, WinBUGS code, R code, and Netica files used in the examples.

Bayesian networks currently provide one of the most rapidly growing areas of research in computer science and statistics. In compiling this volume we have brought together contributions from some of the most prestigious researchers in this field. Each of the twelve chapters is self-contained. Both theoreticians and application scientists/engineers in the broad area of artificial intelligence will find this volume valuable. It also provides a useful sourcebook for Graduate students since it shows the direction of current research.