The Topological Fusion of Bayes Nets

Bayes nets are relatively recent innovations. As a result, most of their theoretical devel­ opment has focused on the simplest class of single-author models. The introduction of more sophisticated multiple-author set­ tings raises a variety of interesting ques­ tions. One such question involves the na­ ture of compromise and consensus. Poste­ rior compromises let each model process all data to arrive at an independent response, and then split the difference. Prior compro­ mises, on the other hand, force compromise to be reached on all points before data is observed. This paper introduces prior corn­ promises in a Bayes net setting. It outlines the problem and develops an efficient algo­ rithm for fusing two directed acyclic graphs into a single, consensus structure, which may then be used as the basis of a prior compromise.