"A nice feature of the book is the extensive survey of the available software, much of it downloadable for free on the web. [This book] provides a very solid introduction to BNs for those statisticians who may have heard about BNs but are unfamiliar with their basics. The many examples clearly illustrate the topics, and there are many hints at the broader applications." - Technometrics, Feb. 2005, Vol. 47, No. 1 "This book certainly deserves to be in the library of any institution where undergraduate or graduate courses in computer science are taught, and would also be an excellent resource for anyone who wants to learn more about this cutting-edge area of computing. Summing Up: Essential." - Choice, June 2004, Vol. 41, No. 10" this excellent book would also serve well for final year undergraduate courses in mathematics or statistics and is a solid first reference text for researchers wanting to implement Bayesian belief network (BBN) solutions for practical problems. beautifully presented, nicely written, and made accessible. Mathematical ideas, some quite deep, are presented within the flow but do not get in the way. This has the advantage that students can see and interpret the mathematics in the practical context, whereas practitioners can acquire, to personal taste, the mathematical seasoning. If you are interested in applying BBN methods to real life problems, this book is a good place to start." - Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A., Vol. 157(3)
With Bayesian network technology very much on the up-swing in industry and government, there is an increasing need for an introductory book that jointly emphasizes the understanding of its underlying priniciples and their application in practice.Bayesian Artificial Intelligence presents elements of Bayesian network technology, automated causal discovery, and learning probabilities from data along with extensive motivational examples of using these technologies to develop probabilistic expert systems. This practical, very accessible introduction balances the causal discovery of networks with the Bayesian inference procedures that use a network once it is found. The authors emphasize understanding and intuition, so they keep the mathematical details to a minimum, but also provide the algorithms and technical background needed for applications. They illustrate at length a number of applications and discuss application software in detail.A broad range of topics, a practical perspective, and a thoughtful discussion of philosophical underpinnings make Bayesian Artificial Intelligence an ideal introduction for students and for professionals who want to broaden their expertise.
It provides the knowledge you need to put Bayesian network tools into practice, while also forming the basis for a more detailed investigation of the technology and original research.