The importance of resolving general queries in Bayesian networks using the symbolic probabilistic inference (SPI) algorithm is considered. SPI applies the concept of dependency-directed backward search to probabilistic inference, and is incremental with respect to both queries and observations. Unlike traditional Bayesian network inferencing algorithms, the SPI algorithm is goal directed, performing only those calculations that are required to respond to queries. Research to date on SPI applies to Bayesian networks with only discrete-valued variables or only continuous variables (linear Gaussian) and does not address networks with both discrete and continuous variables. In this paper, we extend the SPI algorithm to handle Bayesian networks made up of both discrete and continuous variables (SPI-DC). The only topological constraint of the networks is that the successors of any continuous variable have to be continuous variables as well. In order to have exact analytical solution, the relationships between the continuous variables are restricted to be "linear Gaussian." With new representation, SPI-DC modifies the three basic SPI operations: multiplication, summation, and substitution. However, SPI-DC retains the framework of the SPI algorithm, namely building the search tree and recursive query mechanism and therefore retains the goal-directed and incrementality features of SPI.>

Article An architecture for probabilistic concept-based information retrieval Share on Authors: R. M. Fung Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, California Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, CaliforniaView Profile , S. L. Crawford Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, California Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, CaliforniaView Profile , L. A. Appelbaum Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, California Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, CaliforniaView Profile , R. M. Tong Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, California Advanced Decision Systems, 1500 Plymouth Street, Mountain View, CaliforniaView Profile Authors Info & Claims SIGIR '90: Proceedings of the 13th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrievalDecember 1989 Pages 455–467https://doi.org/10.1145/96749.98252Online:01 December 1989Publication History 19citation520DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations19Total Downloads520Last 12 Months3Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access