Figure 5.

(a) Schematic depiction of the chemical reaction network discussed in this paper. The nonlinear feedback between the reservoir species Re and the intermediate species $\mathrm{B}$ in our simulation is mediated by the dynamics of the winner-take-all module. (b) It is conceivable that a similar dissipative structure develops, which does not feed on the initial driving concentration gradient $n\left(\mathrm{Hi}\right)-n\left(\mathrm{Lo}\right)$, but on the structure realizing the dissipative process, in terms of the concentration gradient $n\left(\mathrm{Re}\right)-n\left(\mathrm{Lo}\right)$ between the reservoir species of the initial dissipative structure and the low-concentration species. (c) This process could be iterated, by imagining a dissipative structure which now feeds on the reservoir species of the second order dissipative structure. One immediately sees that the concentration gradient available to drive the next layer in such a hierarchy of dissipative structures decreases the further one moves away from the initial driving concentration gradient.