We consider networks in which random walkers are removed because of the
failure of specific nodes. We interpret the rate of loss as a measure of the
importance of nodes, a notion we denote as failure-centrality. We show that the
degree of the node is not sufficient to determine this measure and that, in a
first approximation, the shortest loops through the node have to be taken into
account. We propose approximations of the failure-centrality which are valid
for temporal-varying failures and we dwell on the possibility of externally
changing the relative importance of nodes in a given network, by exploiting the
interference between the loops of a node and the cycles of the temporal pattern
of failures. In the limit of long failure cycles we show analytically that the
escape in a node is larger than the one estimated from a stochastic failure
with the same failure probability. We test our general formalism in two
real-world networks (air-transportation and e-mail users) and show how
communities lead to deviations from predictions for failures in hubs.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
