We present a new family of models that is based on graphs that may have undirected, directed and bidirected edges. We name these new models marginal AMP (MAMP) chain graphs because each of them is Markov equivalent to some AMP chain graph under marginalization of some of its nodes. However, MAMP chain graphs do not only subsume AMP chain graphs but also multivariate regression chain graphs. We describe global and pairwise Markov properties for MAMP chain graphs and prove their equivalence for compositional graphoids. We also characterize when two MAMP chain graphs are Markov equivalent. For Gaussian probability distributions, we also show that every MAMP chain graph is Markov equivalent to some directed and acyclic graph with deterministic nodes under marginalization and conditioning on some of its nodes. This is important because it implies that the independence model represented by a MAMP chain graph can be accounted for by some data generating process that is partially observed and has selection bias. Finally, we modify MAMP chain graphs so that they are closed under marginalization for Gaussian probability distributions. This is a desirable feature because it guarantees parsimonious models under marginalization.

Any regular Gaussian probability distribution that can be represented by an AMP chain graph (CG) can be expressed as a system of linear equations with correlated errors whose structure depends on the CG. However, the CG represents the errors implicitly, as no nodes in the CG correspond to the errors. We propose in this paper to add some deterministic nodes to the CG in order to represent the errors explicitly. We call the result an EAMP CG. We will show that, as desired, every AMP CG is Markov equivalent to its corresponding EAMP CG under marginalization of the error nodes. We will also show that every EAMP CG under marginalization of the error nodes is Markov equivalent to some LWF CG under marginalization of the error nodes, and that the latter is Markov equivalent to some directed and acyclic graph (DAG) under marginalization of the error nodes and conditioning on some selection nodes. This is important because it implies that the independence model represented by an AMP CG can be accounted for by some data generating process that is partially observed and has selection bias. Finally, we will show that EAMP CGs are closed under marginalization. This is a desirable feature because it guarantees parsimonious models under marginalization.

Much artificial intelligence research focuses on the problem of deducing the validity of unobservable propositions or hypotheses from observable evidence.! Many of the knowledge representation techniques designed for this problem encode the relationship between evidence and hypothesis in a directed manner. Moreover, the direction in which evidence is stored is typically from evidence to hypothesis.

Influence diagram is a graphical representation of belief networks with uncertainty. This article studies the structural properties of a probabilistic model in an influence diagram. In particular, structural controllability theorems and structural observability theorems are developed and algorithms are formulated. Controllability and observability are fundamental concepts in dynamic systems (Luenberger 1979). Controllability corresponds to the ability to control a system while observability analyzes the inferability of its variables. Both properties can be determined by the ranks of the system matrices. Structural controllability and observability, on the other hand, analyze the property of a system with its structure only, without the specific knowledge of the values of its elements (tin 1974, Shields and Pearson 1976). The structural analysis explores the connection between the structure of a model and the functional dependence among its elements. It is useful in comprehending problem and formulating solution by challenging the underlying intuitions and detecting inconsistency in a model. This type of qualitative reasoning can sometimes provide insight even when there is insufficient numerical information in a model.