This book reports on the new results in Abstract Systems Theory (AST). It shows the progress made so far in the effort launched in 1960 to develop a mathematical theory of systems based on the "top-down"-formalization-approach. The volume can be used as a supplementary reading in courses in systems theory and engineering. The material is organized in such a way that portions of the book relevant for the supplementary reading in different courses can be used independently from the rest of the text.

Logical Approach to Systems Theory (LAST) provides the foundations for the second order treatment of system models and an effective framework for applying basic concepts in systems theory to the design of information systems.
The main characteristics of LAST are:
1. type-free representation of system models; 2. distinction of system models from their structures; 3. hierarchical structure expansion, which describes inheritance of structures.
The basic concept of LAST mainly focuses on a system model structure, morphism for similarity and universality of realization. This book...