Limit Sets of Generalized, Multi-Threshold Networks.
Standard two-state (Boolean) threshold networks have been used to
model a broad range of social and biological systems. In this paper,
we generalize this class of systems to arbitrary finite sets with nonsymmetric
thresholds. For this new class of systems, we derive suf-
ficient conditions on the threshold parameters to ensure that the limit
sets are fixed points. In contrast to the standard Boolean threshold networks,
this broader class can have long periodic orbits and here we
identify bifurcation points of these systems. Our focus is mainly on
asynchronous systems, but we also discuss synchronous systems. The
extension we introduce is directly motivated by applications in the
social sciences. However, we also expect that our results will be useful
for modeling biological phenomena where a finer level of expression
than 0/1 or on/off is needed.