On some models for developmental systems Part X: Growth, decay and regrowth of developmental systems
Jean-Charles Gille, Stefan Węgrzyn, Pierre Vidal · International Journal of Systems Science · 1989
The size of developmental systems whose elements are subjected to six elementary operations grouped in a generating word grows monotonically. Introducing into the generating word an operating system which limits the number of times that active operations are performed results in developmental systems that first grow, then dwindle and vanish. If the generating word possesses feedback, the system, once reduced to one or to a few cells, may be ‘reborn’ and the whole process is repeated cyclically.