Scalable Structure Learning of Bayesian Networks by Learning Algorithm Ensembles

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liu, Shengcai, Ou-yang, Hui, Wang, Zhiyuan, Chen, Cheng, Cai, Qijun, Ong, Yew-Soon, Tang, Ke
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Liu, Shengcai
Ou-yang, Hui
Wang, Zhiyuan
Chen, Cheng
Cai, Qijun
Ong, Yew-Soon
Tang, Ke
author_facet Liu, Shengcai
Ou-yang, Hui
Wang, Zhiyuan
Chen, Cheng
Cai, Qijun
Ong, Yew-Soon
Tang, Ke
contents Learning the structure of Bayesian networks (BNs) from data is challenging, especially for datasets involving a large number of variables. The recently proposed divide-and-conquer (D\&D) strategies present a promising approach for learning large BNs. However, they still face a main issue of unstable learning accuracy across subproblems. In this work, we introduce the idea of employing structure learning ensemble (SLE), which combines multiple BN structure learning algorithms, to consistently achieve high learning accuracy. We further propose an automatic approach called Auto-SLE for learning near-optimal SLEs, addressing the challenge of manually designing high-quality SLEs. The learned SLE is then integrated into a D\&D method. Extensive experiments firmly show the superiority of our method over D\&D methods with single BN structure learning algorithm in learning large BNs, achieving accuracy improvement usually by 30\%$\sim$225\% on datasets involving 10,000 variables. Furthermore, our method generalizes well to datasets with many more (e.g., 30000) variables and different network characteristics than those present in the training data for learning the SLE. These results indicate the significant potential of employing (automatic learning of) SLEs for scalable BN structure learning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_22848
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scalable Structure Learning of Bayesian Networks by Learning Algorithm Ensembles
Liu, Shengcai
Ou-yang, Hui
Wang, Zhiyuan
Chen, Cheng
Cai, Qijun
Ong, Yew-Soon
Tang, Ke
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Learning the structure of Bayesian networks (BNs) from data is challenging, especially for datasets involving a large number of variables. The recently proposed divide-and-conquer (D\&D) strategies present a promising approach for learning large BNs. However, they still face a main issue of unstable learning accuracy across subproblems. In this work, we introduce the idea of employing structure learning ensemble (SLE), which combines multiple BN structure learning algorithms, to consistently achieve high learning accuracy. We further propose an automatic approach called Auto-SLE for learning near-optimal SLEs, addressing the challenge of manually designing high-quality SLEs. The learned SLE is then integrated into a D\&D method. Extensive experiments firmly show the superiority of our method over D\&D methods with single BN structure learning algorithm in learning large BNs, achieving accuracy improvement usually by 30\%$\sim$225\% on datasets involving 10,000 variables. Furthermore, our method generalizes well to datasets with many more (e.g., 30000) variables and different network characteristics than those present in the training data for learning the SLE. These results indicate the significant potential of employing (automatic learning of) SLEs for scalable BN structure learning.
title Scalable Structure Learning of Bayesian Networks by Learning Algorithm Ensembles
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.22848