Graphical dynamical systems and their applications to bio-social systems

In this review paper, we discuss graphical dynamical systems (GDSs) and their applications to biological and social systems (bio-social systems). Traditionally, differential equation-based models have been central in modeling bio-social systems. GDSs provide an alternate modeling framework. This framework explicitly represents individual components of the system and captures the interactions among them via a network. The purpose of this review is to enable modelers to obtain an understanding of this basic mathematical and computational framework so that it can be used to study specific bio-social applications. The work covers the range from computational theory to simulation-based analysis. We also provide some directions for future work.