Bayesian Network Structural Learning Using Adaptive Genetic Algorithm with Varying Population Size

A Bayesian network (BN) is a probabilistic graphical model that can model complex and nonlinear relationships. Its structural learning from data is an NP-hard problem because of its search-space size. One method to perform structural learning is a search and score approach, which uses a search algorithm and structural score. A study comparing 15 algorithms showed that hill climbing (HC) and tabu search (TABU) performed the best overall on the tests. This work performs a deeper analysis of the application of the adaptive genetic algorithm with varying population size (AGAVaPS) on the BN structural learning problem, which a preliminary test showed that it had the potential to perform well on. AGAVaPS is a genetic algorithm that uses the concept of life, where each solution is in the population for a number of iterations. Each individual also has its own mutation rate, and there is a small probability of undergoing mutation twice. Parameter analysis of AGAVaPS in BN structural leaning was performed. Also, AGAVaPS was compared to HC and TABU for six literature datasets considering F1 score, structural Hamming distance (SHD), balanced scoring function (BSF), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), and execution time. HC and TABU performed basically the same for all the tests made. AGAVaPS performed better than the other algorithms for F1 score, SHD, and BIC, showing that it can perform well and is a good choice for BN structural learning.