Abstract. Graphical models provide a framework for exploration of multivariate dependence patterns. The connection between graph and statistical model is made by identifying the vertices of the graph with the observed variables and translating the pattern of edges in the graph into a pattern of conditional independences that is imposed on the variables ’ joint distribution. Focusing on Gaussian models, we review classical graphical models. For these models the defining conditional independences are equivalent to vanishing of certain (partial) correlation coefficients associated with individual edges that are absent from the graph. Hence, Gaussian graphical model selection can be performed by multiple testing of hypotheses about vanishing (partial) correlation coefficients. We show and exemplify how this approach allows one to perform model selection while controlling error rates for incorrect edge inclusion. Key words and phrases: Acyclic directed graph, Bayesian network, bidirected graph, chain graph, concentration graph, covariance graph, DAG, graphical model, multiple testing, undirected graph. 1.

Abstract. We discuss two parameterizations of models for marginal independencies for discrete distributions which are representable by bi-directed graph models, under the global Markov property. Such models are useful data analytic tools especially if used in combination with other graphical models. The first parameterization, in the saturated case, is also known as the multivariate logistic transformation, the second is a variant that allows, in some (but not all) cases, variation independent parameters. An algorithm for maximum likelihood fitting is proposed, based on an extension of the Aitchison and Silvey method.

Ordered sequences of univariate or multivariate regressions provide statistical modelsfor analysingdata fromrandomized, possiblysequential interventions, from cohort or multi-wave panel studies, but also from cross-sectional or retrospective studies. Conditional independences are captured by what we name regression graphs, provided the generated distribution shares some properties with a joint Gaussian distribution. Regression graphs extend purely directed, acyclic graphs by two types of undirected graph, one type for components of joint responses and the other for components of the context vector variable. We review the special features and the history of regression graphs, prove criteria for Markov equivalence anddiscussthenotion of simpler statistical covering models. Knowledgeof Markov equivalence provides alternative interpretations of a given sequence of regressions, is essential for machine learning strategies and permits to use the simple graphical criteria of regression graphs on graphs for which the corresponding criteria are in general more complex. Under the known conditions that a Markov equivalent directed acyclic graph exists for any given regression graph, we give a polynomial time algorithm to find one such graph.

Abstract: Changes between different sets of parameters are often needed in multivariate statistical modeling such as transformations within linear regression or in exponential models. There may, for instance, be specific inference questions based on subject matter interpretations, alternative well-fitting constrained models, compatibility judgements of seemingly distinct constrained models, or different reference priors under alternative parameterizations. We introduce and discuss a partial mapping, called partial replication and relate it to a more complex mapping, called partial inversion. Both operations are used to decompose matrix operations, to explain recursion relations among sets of linear parameters, to change between different types of linear models, to approximate maximum-likelihood estimates in exponential family models under independence constraints, and to switch partially between sets of canonical and moment parameters in exponential family distributions or between sets of corresponding maximum-likelihood estimates. Key words and phrases: Exponential family, independence constraints, matrix

Undetected confounding may severely distort the effect of an explanatory variable on a response variable, as defined by a stepwise data-generating process. The best known type of distortion, which we call direct confounding, arises from an unobserved explanatory variable common to a response and its main explanatory variable of interest. It is relevant mainly for observational studies, since it is avoided by successful randomization. By contrast, indirect confounding, which we identify in this paper, is an issue also for intervention studies. For general stepwise-generating processes, we provide matrix and graphical criteria to decide which types of distortion may be present, when they are absent and how they are avoided. We then turn to linear systems without other types of distortion, but with indirect confounding. For such systems, the magnitude of distortion in a least-squares regression coefficient is derived and shown to be estimable, so that it becomes possible to recover the effect of the generating process from the distorted coefficient.

A joint density of several variables may satisfy a possibly large set of independence statements, called its independence structure. Often this structure is fully representable by a graph that consists of nodes representing variables and of edges that couple node pairs. We consider joint densities of this type, generated by a stepwise process in which all variables and dependences of interest are included. Otherwise, there are no constraints on the type of variables or on the form of the distribution generated. For densities that then result after marginalising and conditioning, we derive what we name the summary graph. It is seen to capture precisely the independence structure implied by the generating process, it identifies dependences which remain undistorted due to direct or indirect confounding and it alerts to possibly severe distortions of these two types in other parametrizations. Summary graphs preserve their form after marginalising and conditioning and they include multivariate regression chain graphs as special cases. We use operators for matrix representations of graphs to derive matrix results and translate these into special types of path. 1. Introduction. Graphical Markov

ABSTRACT: In this paper, we study sequences of regressions in joint or single responses given a set of context variables, where a dependence structure of interest is captured by a regression graph. These graphs have nodes representing random variables and three types of edge. Their set of missing edges defines the independence structure of the graph provided two properties are used that are not common to all probability distributions, named the intersection and the composition property. We derive the additionally needed properties for tracing the effects of single active paths and for excluding any canceling of effects due to several paths connecting the same pair of nodes. For this, we use the notion of a generating process for the joint distribution and derive new properties of an edge matrix calculus for transforming graphs. One key is the M-matrix property of each regularized square edge matrix, others are the proposed notions of traceable regressions and of singleton transitivity.