Equation-Free Multiscale Computations in Social Networks: from Agent-based Modelling to Coarse-grained Stability and Bifurcation Analysis

We focus at the interface between multiscale computations, bifurcation theory and social networks. In particular we address how the Equation-Free approach, a recently developed computational framework, can be exploited to systematically extract coarse-grained, emergent dynamical information by bridging detailed, agent-based models of social interactions on networks, with macroscopic, systems-level, continuum numerical analysis tools. For our illustrations we use a simple dynamic agent-based model describing the propagation of information between individuals interacting under mimesis in a social network with private and public information. We describe the rules governing the evolution of the agents emotional state dynamics and discover, through simulation, multiple stable stationary states as a function of the network topology. Using the Equation-Free approach we track the dependence of these stationary solutions on network parameters and quantify their stability in the form of coarse-grained bifurcation diagrams

Excess mortality among the elderly in european countries, December 2014 to February 2015

Since December 2014 and up to February 2015, the weekly number of excess deaths from all-causes among individuals ≥ 65 years of age in 14 European countries have been significantly higher than in the four previous winter seasons. The rise in unspecified excess mortality coincides with increased proportion of influenza detection in the European influenza surveillance schemes with a main predominance of influenza A(H3N2) viruses seen throughout Europe in the current season, though cold snaps and other respiratory infections may also have had an effect