A Distributed Learning Algorithm for Bayesian Inference Networks

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Wai Lam, Alberto Maria Segre

Published: 2002, Last Modified: 14 Jan 2026IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 2002EveryoneRevisionsBibTeXCC BY-SA 4.0
Abstract: We present a new distributed algorithm for computing the minimum description length (MDL) in learning Bayesian inference networks from data. Our learning algorithm exploits both properties of the MDL-based score metric and a distributed, asynchronous, adaptive search technique called nagging. Nagging is intrinsically fault-tolerant, has dynamic load balancing features, and scales well. We demonstrate the viability, effectiveness, and scalability of our approach empirically with several experiments using networked machines. More specifically, we show that our distributed algorithm can provide optimal solutions for larger problems as well as good solutions for Bayesian networks of up to 150 variables.