FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
IMPRECISE PROBABILITIES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
July 20-23 2005

ISIPTA'05 ELECTRONIC PROCEEDINGS

Jaime Ide, Fabio Cozman

Approximate Inference in Credal Networks by Variational Mean Field Methods

Abstract

Graph-theoretical representations for sets of probability measures (credal networks) generally display high complexity, and approximate inference seems to be a natural solution for large networks. This paper introduces a variational approach to approximate inference in credal networks: we show how to formulate mean field approximations using naive (fully factorized) and structured (tree-like) schemes. We discuss the computational advantages of the variational approach, and present examples that illustrate the mechanics of the proposal.

Keywords. Credal networks, variational methods, inferences

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Authors addresses:

Jaime Ide
Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2231

Fabio Cozman
Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2231
Cidade Univesitaria, CEP 05508-900
Sao Paulo, SP - BRAZIL

E-mail addresses:

Jaime Ide jaime.ide@poli.usp.br
Fabio Cozman fgcozman@usp.br


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