Our talk at Lisbon SAMP conference was based mainly on our recent results (published in Comm. Math. Phys.) on small diameter asymptotics for solutions of the Helmgoltz equation in networks of thin fibers. The present paper contains a detailed review of these results under some assumptions which make them much more transparent. It also contains several new theorems on the structure of the spectrum near the threshold. small diameter asymptotics of the resolvent, and solutions of the evolution equation.