  The analysis on stability and bifurcations in the macroscopic dynamics
exhibited by the system of two coupled large populations comprised of $N$
stochastic excitable units each is performed by studying an approximate system,
obtained by replacing each population with the corresponding mean-field model.
In the exact system, one has the units within an ensemble communicating via the
time-delayed linear couplings, whereas the inter-ensemble terms involve the
nonlinear time-delayed interaction mediated by the appropriate global
variables. The aim is to demonstrate that the bifurcations affecting the
stability of the stationary state of the original system, governed by a set of
4N stochastic delay-differential equations for the microscopic dynamics, can
accurately be reproduced by a flow containing just four deterministic
delay-differential equations which describe the evolution of the mean-field
based variables. In particular, the considered issues include determining the
parameter domains where the stationary state is stable, the scenarios for the
onset and the time-delay induced suppression of the collective mode, as well as
the parameter domains admitting bistability between the equilibrium and the
oscillatory state. We show how analytically tractable bifurcations occurring in
the approximate model can be used to identify the characteristic mechanisms by
which the stationary state is destabilized under different system
configurations, like those with symmetrical or asymmetrical inter-population
couplings.
