{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"Node Aggregation for Distributed Inference in Bayesian Networks","authors":[{"name":"Kuo-Chu Chang","slug":"kuo-chu-chang","given":"Kuo-Chu","family":"Chang","affiliation":""},{"name":"Robert M. Fung","slug":"robert-m-fung","given":"Robert M.","family":"Fung","affiliation":""}],"abstract":"This study describes a general framework and several algorithms for reducing Bayesian networks with loops (i.e., undir e cted cycles) into equivalent networks which are singlyconnected. The purpose of this conversion is to take advantage of a distributed inference algorithm [6]. The framework and algorithms center around one basic operation, node aggregation. In this operation, a cluster of nodes in a network is replaced with a single node without changing the underlying joint distribution of the network. The framework for using this operation includes a node aggregation theorem which describes whether a cluster of nodes can be combined, and a complexity analysis which estimates the computational req uirements for the resulting networks. The algorithms described include a heuristic search algorithm which finds the set of node aggregations that makes a network singly connected and allows inference to execute in minimum time, and a \"graph-directed\" algorithm which is guaranteed to find a feasible but not necessary optimal solution and with less computation than the search algorithm.","doi":null,"url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/42","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/0042.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/42.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/bibtex/42","volume":{"slug":"1989","title":"Proceedings of the Eleventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 1989","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1989/","year":1989,"location":"Detroit, Michigan, USA","dates":"August 20-25 1989","editors":"N. S. Sridharan","isbn":"","publisher":"International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence","doi_prefix":""},"section":"Search","track":"Search","number":42,"pages":{"first":265,"last":269},"keywords":[],"videos":[],"references":[],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}