Product Description

Probabilistic graphical models and decision graphs are powerful modeling tools for reasoning and decision making under uncertainty. As modeling languages they allow a natural specification of problem domains with inherent uncertainty, and from a computational perspective they support efficient algorithms for automatic construction and query answering. This includes belief updating, finding the most probable explanation for the observed evidence, detecting conflicts in the evidence entered into the network, determining optimal strategies, analyzing for relevance, and performing sensitivity analysis.

The book introduces probabilistic graphical models and decision graphs, including Bayesian networks and influence diagrams. The reader is introduced to the two types of frameworks through examples and exercises, which also instruct the reader on how to build these models.

The book is a new edition of Bayesian Networks and Decision Graphs by Finn V. Jensen. The new edition is structured into two parts. The first part focuses on probabilistic graphical models. Compared with the previous book, the new edition also includes a thorough description of recent extensions to the Bayesian network modeling language, advances in exact and approximate belief updating algorithms, and methods for learning both the structure and the parameters of a Bayesian network. The second part deals with decision graphs, and in addition to the frameworks described in the previous edition, it also introduces Markov decision processes and partially ordered decision problems. The authors also

• provide a well-founded practical introduction to Bayesian networks, object-oriented Bayesian networks, decision trees, influence diagrams (and variants hereof), and Markov decision processes.
• give practical advice on the construction of Bayesian networks, decision trees, and influence diagrams from domain knowledge.
• give several examples and exercises exploiting computer systems for dealing with Bayesian networks and decision graphs.
• present a thorough introduction to state-of-the-art solution and analysis algorithms.

The book is intended as a textbook, but it can also be used for self-study and as a reference book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #693257 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Review

From the reviews:

MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

"This is indeed an invaluable text for students in information technology, engineering, and statistics. It is also very helpful for researchers in these fields and for those working in industry. The book is self-contained…The book has enough illustrative examples and exercises for the reader. All the illustrations are motivated by real applications. Moreover, the book provides a good balance between pure mathematical treatment and the applied aspects of the subject."

"The Bayesian network (BN), or probabilistic expert system, is technology for automating human-life reasoning under uncertainty in specific contexts. … the book does an admirable job of concisely explaining a great range of concepts and techniques. … the book is very well written and to my knowledge nothing else meets its specific goal of quickly equipping the reader with both practical skills and sufficient theoretical background. … I certainly would not want to try to implement a BN application without reading this book.” (David Tritchler, Sankhya: Indian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 64 (B Part 3), 2002)

"Professor Jensen is certainly one of the most influential researchers in the field of Bayesian networks and it is not surprising that this book represents a very clear and useful presentation of the main properties and use of graphical models. … I think that the present volume represents a useful integration of other material and a compact guide for either a student who wants an introduction to the field or a teacher who needs a reference for a course on probabilistic reasoning in AI." (Luigi Portinale, The Computer Journal, Vol. 46 (3), 2003)

"This book is an introduction to Bayesian networks at an accessible level for first-year graduate or advanced undergraduate students. … I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the topic. It is well written, provides broad topic coverage, and is quite accessible to the non-expert. … I think Bayesian Networks and Decision Graphs would make a fine text for an introductory class in Bayesian networks or a useful reference for anyone interested in learning about the field." (David J. Marchette, Technometrics, Vol. 45 (2), 2003)

"I can comfortably recommend this book as a primary source for topics related to Bayesian networks and decision graphs. This would be an excellent edition to any personal library." (Technometrics, Feburary 2008)

From the reviews of the second edition:

"The present book provides a very readable but also rigorous and comprehensive introduction to the subject. It would make a very good text for a graduate or an advanced undergraduate course. … Altogether, this is a very useful book for anyone interested in learning Bayesian networks without tears." (Jayanta K. Ghosh, International Statistical Reviews, Vol. 76 (2), 2008)

"This book is the second edition of Jensen’s Bayesian Networks and Decision Graphs … . Each chapter ends with a summary section, bibliographic notes, and exercises. … provides a readable, self-contained, and above all, practical introduction to Bayesian networks and decision graphs. Its treatment is appropriate not just for statisticians, but also for computer scientists, engineers, and others researchers with appropriate mathematical background. … highly recommend it as a text or a useful reference for anyone interested in probabilistic graphical models or decision graphs." (Alyson G. Wilson, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 104 (485), March, 2009)

About the Author
Finn V. Jensen is professor of computer science at the University of Aalborg.

Customer Reviews

Accessible introduction to Bayesian Networks
Among currently available introduction to Bayesian networks (also known as Bayes Net, Bayesian Belief Nets), this book is probably one of the most accessible. The book is divided into part I and II. Part I is intended for BN users (practitioners) and Part II more towards BN developers and researchers, as it contains algorithmic introduction of BN.

Prerequisites of the book as stated in the preface include Graph Theory and Calculus, both at introductory level. I personally did not have exposure to Graph theory, but I was able to understand most of the material without any help. Necessary probability theory is developed, but basic probability knowledge is also a prerequisite to digest the material to a reader without prior exposure of Probability as it shapes the core of the material in the book.

The strength of this text is in Part I where the author provides several examples to illustrate use of Bayesian Networks, Influence Diagrams and other models. I find it useful Influence Diagram as an extension of Bayesian Networks.

Most answers to Exercises at the end of each chapter are provided at the author's homepage, except answers of the last chapter. Answers that require graphical modeling software are also provided in Hugin format. (Hugin Lite can be downloaded from Hugin site.)

The downsides are that writing of the text is somewhat awkward, obscuring readers from understanding, that model building chapter could have been discussed more thoroughly, that material in Learning is barely present, and that definitions are sometimes not introduced upon the first encounter but they appear later in chapters. More different and complex examples could have been discussed to illustrate the material. Note: the author provides a page for Learning at his homepage.

Although this is an introduction to Bayesian Networks and Influence Diagrams, a reader should be equipped with some level of abstract thinking in order to digest the material.

This book is suitable for self-study. It has motivations for the uninitiated. References are provided at the end of the book and I was able to find some of them online. A notable is "A tutorial on Learning with Bayesian Networks" by Heckerman, to fill in the part of Learning in this book.

Other books at this level from users' perspective are:
Edwards, Introduction to Graphical Modeling (Utilizes software MIM.)
Clemen, et al., Making Hard Decisions (Uses Palisade Decision Tools suite. The book discusses Influence Diagrams but not Bayesian Networks.)

Further studies after completion of this book include:
Cowell, et al., Probabilistic Networks and Expert Systems
Lauritzen, Graphical Models
Pearl, Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems
Pearl, Causality

A very good introduction to Bayesian networks
I am very pleased to have found a book that gives a modern, sound, and self-contained introduction to Bayesian networks. The only prerequisite is basic knowledge of probability. This makes sense because a Bayesian network is essentially a directed graph whose vertex set is a collection of random variables, while an edge from one variable X to another variable Y represents a belief that X has a causative effect on Y. For example, X could be the pregnancy status of a cow, while Y could be a blood test administered to the cow. Vertex Y would contain a contingency table that reflects the conditional probability of Y in terms of X. The author does well in explaining this, as well as adequately treating many of the practical issues surrounding Bayesian networks, such as design issues, network learing and tuning, and some basic algorithms (e.g. bucket elimination and junction trees) that aid in the efficient updating of variable probabilities due to new evidence that may instantiate or change the distribution of one or more variables.
The author also provides a good introduction to decision graphs, a close relative of Bayesian networks.

The aspect of Bayesian networks that I find most attractive is the fact that there is a "rational" way of designing a network, based on hypothesis, informational, and mediating variables, and their "causal" relationships. Unlike neural networks in which one is almost forced to guess the appropriate structure of the network, every node in a Bayesian network correpsonds with a state or quantity that can be measured either directly or indirectly through other variables. Thus, changes in a system model should only induce local changes in a Bayesian network, where as system changes might require the design and training of an entirely new neural network.

Another aspect of Bayesian networks that I find very compelling is the way in which they seem quite amendable to learning and the presentation of new evidence. This is true since knowledge updating is done locally (through variables), while the effects of those changes are witnessed globally through appropriate belief-updating algorithms.

On the downside, it should be noted that the operation of belief-updating is in general NP-hard, thus there exists a valid concern about the computational efficiency of Bayesian networks. Contrast this with the fact that once a nueral network has been trained, it is quite easy to compute. One would hope that these concerns will subside with more research, for the above mentioned benefits of Bayesian networks leads me to believe that these networks will have quite an influence on the future directions of machine learning.

Although this book will not go down in history as the definitive reference for Bayesian networks, it serves as a good conduit for explaining this quite interesting area of learning at a time when such few complete and modern references exist.

You need know about the subject to understand the book
You need to understand the subject to understand the book. But if you already understand the subject, why do you need to read the book?

Poorly organized and written. Theorems based on terms are given before the definitions are supplied. The introductory example doesn't explain what is going on.

2 stars: read if you need the subject and this is the only book on the subject; but otherwise read something rated at least 3.