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Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

This paper aims to identify and prioritize the needs of coworking members. The authors focus on maintaining the existing members rather than attracting new ones.

The authors use two phases and multiple methods. The first phase focuses on a qualitative approach using observations and interviews to uncover and formulate the members’ needs. The second phase focuses on prioritizing the needs using a quantitative approach.

The authors discovered 19 member needs from the coworking spaces. Based on an online survey, the authors classified those needs into three main Kano model’s categories.

The resulting member needs and their strategic priorities provide a useful basis for coworking providers to direct their improvement efforts towards achieving greater member satisfaction.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the “Q-Step in the Community” programme, part of the Q-Step Centre based in the Sociology Department at Manchester Metropolitan University, designed to help address the skills gap in quantitative methods (QM) that is evident across parts of the UK higher-education sector. “Q-Step in the Community” is a data-driven work-based learning programme that works in partnership with local organisations to provide placement opportunities for final year undergraduates and postgraduates. Students conduct a quantitative research project, which is typically identified by the placement provider.

The authors use quantitative and qualitative feedback from students and placement providers, along with our own reflections on the process to evaluate the placement programme. Data were collected through a focus group and email interviews with placement providers, along with a questionnaire, which was distributed to “Q-Step in the Community” alumni.

Data-driven work-based learning opportunities allow students to develop and demonstrate their quantitative skills and support networking opportunities whilst also developing valuable soft-skills experience of the workplace that develops their career-readiness. In addition, those opportunities provide valuable research for placement providers, which support their sustainability and enhance their service delivery.

The research focusses solely on one programme at one university offering quantitative data driven work-based learning opportunities at undergraduate and post-graduate level. It is not possible to make valid comparisons between those who do a placement with those who do not.

Views of key stakeholders in the process have been sought for this research, which can be useful to consider for others considering developing similar programmes for their students.

During the last few decades, there have been significant divergences in the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) as per decisions taken by multinational companies (MNCs), and many of the developing nations in the Asia and Pacific region are most remarkable in this regard (UNCTAD, 2015). Apart from various economic factors, some sociopolitical issues have also been identified as influencing the FDI decisions. This study investigates the comovements of the standard measures of terrorist activities and MNCs’ decision on FDI in selected developing countries in the Asia and Pacific region by employing Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimation technique on constructing a balanced panel for 1990–2016. Results summarize that FDI inflows are negatively influenced by terrorist activities in the developing economies of the Asia and Pacific region.

This study uses an event study approach which is the development of the efficient market hypothesis theory. First, the random walk test was conducted on the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) to test the efficiency in the weak form. Furthermore, event study analysis was carried out on JCI and nine sectoral indices to determine the impact of COVID-19 related events on price movements. The study found that JCI prices follow a random walk pattern so that the stock market in Indonesia is efficient, at least in a weak form. In the event study testing, only events related to the first confirmed case of COVID-19 and the implementation of large-scale social restriction in Indonesia affected the composite index. From a sectoral point of view, only the event of Jakarta’s call center had no impact on price changes in the sectoral index. Thus, each index had a different effect throughout the event. The reaction seen from the movement of prices for the composite and sectoral index to the public information explains that the condition of the Indonesian capital market is efficient, at least in semi-strong form.

There are many channels through which terrorism can influence macroeconomic variables, such as economic growth and international trade. However, the intensity of the consequences of terrorist events on the economy may be varied across countries based on the economic structure. Therefore, it is not unusual for the impacts of terrorism to vary across the developed and developing nations. Against this backdrop, this study assesses the influences of conflicts and terrorist activities on the growth of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 21 developed and 23 developing countries from 1970 to 2015. The stochastic properties of the variables are looked into by carrying out panel-specific Augmented Dicky-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Peron (PP) unit root test followed by estimating the dynamic regressions equations in structured balanced panel frameworks for selected developed and developing economies separately. This study draws on data from various sources namely, Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and World Development Indicators (WDI; World Bank). Our empirical findings imply that terrorist activities have a significant growth-limiting effect, and the extent and significance of impacts are higher in case of developing economies.

The 2021 Malacca state election was the first state election in West Malaysia held post-2018 general election during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a state where the governmental power fell into the hands of Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the 2018 general election before switching hands to Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN). After losing majority support, the state assembly was dissolved to make way for a fresh election. Although the Chinese voters in this election did not show much swing towards non-PH party, the support for PH is no long as enthusiastic as before. This chapter studies the political landscape in the 2018 general election focussing on Malacca before analysing the 2021 Malacca state election result that was held during a global health crisis.

This study aims to investigate whether Bangladesh would avoid the middle-income trap (MIT) in its transition to a high-income country (HIC) according to its “Vision 2041”.

Using both actual and forecasted secondary data, three MIT models of different approaches were used to evaluate the government’s vision-based projections. Moreover, crucial indicators of deindustrialization and institutional strength were linked to the investigation of potential transitions.

According to the absolute definition and international forecasts, the Bangladesh economy might not fall into an MIT at its lower-middle-income level within the intended period due to being shorter than the defined limit. However, its real GDP per capita relative to the USA would remain far below the defined threshold limit of an upper-middle-income country (UMC) in 2041. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has reached the third of the five gradual phases and is awaiting a new transition in 2029. However, its vision-based plan would face challenges such as skills gaps, institutional reforms and successive global crises.

Bangladesh might be trapped in MIT at the UMC level in the 2030s, with no path to renovate after the demographic dividend ends in 2047. In this regard, the government must demonstrate a strong political will to ensure the effectiveness of its policies and the viability of its institutions.

This study not only compared projections to forecasts using different MIT models but also connected transition phases to industrial policies and institutional strengths.

The purpose of this study is to try to answer whether the banking system in Oman is fair for both depositors and entrepreneurs.

The interest margin decomposition is based on the methodology proposed in Randall (1998). The income statement of banks defines profits before taxes (P) as interest income (II), plus non-interest income (NII), minus interest expense (IP), minus operating costs (OC) and minus provision for loan losses (Prov). After rearranging this identity, the net interest revenue can be expressed as follows: II – IP = OC + Prov + P – NII. The above expression decomposes the margin into the following cost and profit components: reserve requirement costs, operational costs, loan loss provision costs, profitability and non-interest income (with a negative sign).

A trend analysis of commercial banks’ interest rate spreads in Oman exposes the following facts: First, the implicit interest margin is relatively small (in the neighborhood of 1 percentage point); second, profits constitute a substantial proportion of the margin; third, the share of operating costs in the margin has been broadly constant over time; fourth, reserve requirement costs have been reduced following the decline of the reserve requirement ratio; and fifth, the weighted average interest rate on deposits base is lower than the rate of inflation.

This work is original.

Background: Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is over represented in the prisoner population and is predictive of violence and suicide. This raises issues in relation to prisoner management, as well as theoretical issues such as why there is a range of vulnerability for PTSD. The current study examines the relationship between PTSD and personality profiles of prisoners. Method: Data from 1305 participants in the NSW survey of health in prisoners are examined to identify relationships between personality profiles derived from the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and PTSD. Participants are grouped as experiencing no trauma; with a trauma history but no PTSD; and being diagnosed with PTSD. A logistic regression modelled significant predictors of PTSD. These data indicated that women prisoners report PTSD at twice the rate of males. An increased risk for PTSD is associated with high Harm Avoidance, low Self‐Directedness, high Persistence and high Self‐Transcendence. Conclusions: A combination of both temperament and character traits influences the trajectory towards PTSD development. Targeted treatment of these traits is needed in addressing the problems of prisoners with PTSD and managing the associated risks of violence and suicide.