The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Prof. James Giordano, PhD, Vice President for Academic Programs and Director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies, has recently published Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives in Neuroethics (Cambridge University Press, 2010). The book is available on Amazon.com: click here to access the listing on Amazon. 

A compilation of essays from leaders in the field, Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives in Neuroethics explores the multiple - and sometimes surprising - ramifications of rapid progress in neuroscience and neurotechnology.Even as neuroscientific research provides deeper insight into the workings of nervous systems, the fact remains that there is much we do not know about the nature of mind and consciousness.  Technical knowledge alone does not bridge this gap, and as a result there are many challenging ethical and social questions about the meaning and use of neuroscientific discoveries. Prof. Giordano will address these controversies.

The Potomac Institute Press is pleased to announce that the new edition of Best Available Science: Fundamental Metrics for Evaluation of Scientific Claims is now available for purchase on Amazon.com.  Click here to access order page.

In this updated and revised edition of  Best Available Science: Fundamental Metrics for Evaluation of Scientific Claims, authors A. Alan Moghissi, Michael Swetnam, Betty R. Love and Sorin R. Straja  draw on their decades of experience to provide straightforward, easy-to-understand guidance for policymakers tasked with evaluating scientific claims.  Scientists and non-scientists alike will find the step-by-method outlined here to be invaluable in a world where new scientific developments are reported at a breathtaking pace.

Best Available Science is the latest publication of the Potomac Institute Press, a subsidiary of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. The Potomac Institute Press publishes original works addressing key contemporary issues in science, technology, healthcare, environment, national security and defense that are of interest to the academic community, government sector and general public alike. In this way, the Potomac Institute Press enables the Institute’s philosophy of providing important scientific, technical and policy information that is of high quality and remains independent and objective.  Click here to read more about the Potomac Institute Press.  
 

by Ben Sheppard, Ph.D.

This new volume explores terrorism and strategic terror, examining how the public responds to terrorist attacks, and what authorities can do in such situations.

The book uses a unique interdisciplinary approach, which combines the behavioural sciences and international relations, in order to further the understanding of the 'terror' generated by strategic terror. The work examines five contemporary case studies of the psychological and behavioural effects of strategic terror, from either terrorist attacks or aerial bombardment. It also looks at how risk-communication and public-health strategies can amplify or reduce psychological and behavioural responses, and considers whether behavioural effects translate into political effects, and what governments can do to relieve this. Ultimately, the study argues that the public is not prone to panic, but can change their behaviours to reduce their perceived risk of being exposed to a terrorist attack. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism studies, homeland security, social psychology and politics in general.

Ben Sheppard is an Adjunct Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, DC, specializing in the terror of terrorism and missile proliferation. He has a Ph.D. from King’s College London.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Overview of the key disciplines
3. Methodological Parameters
4. Israel and the Scud Missile Attacks During the 1991 Gulf War
5. The Tokyo Sarin Attack
6. September 11 Attacks
7. 2001 Anthrax Attacks
8. Israel and the Second Intifada
9. Conclusion. Selected Bibliography

Buy the book at Routledge.com

By Dr. James Giordano and M.V. Boswell

This book, edited and written by leading scholars in the field(s) of neuroscience, ethics, law and healthcare policy, provides a unifying perspective of how a philosophical understanding of pain and medicine gives rise to the ethics and policies of pain care. Toward these ends, the chapters shed light on how pain and the experience of the patient and clinician establish the moral obligations of pain medicine, and the conditions necessary to enact pain care on a global scale. In this context, the authors consider possible ethical systems and approaches that are important to, and viable for pain medicine, and provide perspectives into the ways that moral obligations and practical realties are wedded to (and should underscore) any and all practice guidelines, health policy, and laws. In these ways, this volume provides erudite discussions of how contemporary knowledge of pain could and should influence the moral values, and conduct, tenor and value(s) of medical practice, and how this knowledge might serve as a foundation upon which to construct policies toward a more meaningful, patient-centered pain medicine in the future.

About the Author
Editor, James Giordano, PhD is Professor of Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Ethics at the Institute for Psychological Sciences, Centre for Philosophical Psychology, and Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, UK, and is the Director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies, and Chair of the Academic Programs at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, in Arlington, VA (USA). His research is focused upon the molecular and behavioral neuroscience of pain and analgesia; the neurophilosophy of pain and mind, and the neuroethics of pain research and treatment. Editor, Mark V. Boswell, MD, PhD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Director of the International Pain Center, at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, in Lubbock, Texas. His clinical and research interests focus upon neuroanesthesia, acute, chronic and neuropathic pain disorders, and the roles and practices of interventional pain management and palliative care.

Purchase book on Amazon.com