cascading failures as emergent network phenomena

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I read some time ago an article about emergent network phenomena
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/sciammag/?contents=2009-jan
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=blackouts-and-cascading-failures
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in which these phenomena are linked to social/communicative ones and
I would like to know to which extent this is based on exact sciences
or it is just some metaphoric association and/or persuasive
illustration
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Can these emergent network phenomena in power grids be -exactly- and
measurably described as they do with other physical events?
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and if they can, how well do they describe, say the ripple effect on
the latest economic downturn? In this latest case we have consciously
communicating people participating. How do "we" factor in these
mathematical apparatus?
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Thanks
lbrtchx
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