Analysis of Field Work Practices Against Mastery of Skills and Work Readiness of Students

This study aims to determine the effect of fieldwork experience on student skills mastery, the influence of field work experience on student work readiness, the effect of skill mastery on student work readiness, and the influence of field work experience on student work readiness through mastery of student skills. This study was conducted in YPLP SMK PGRI Bangkinang and used the entire population of 75 students who have carried out fieldwork practices. Data analysis techniques used path analysis methods. The results of this analysis indicate that field work has a positive effect on skill mastery, field work practices have a positive effect on work readiness, mastery of skills has a positive effect on work readiness, field work practices have a positive effect on job readiness through mastery of skills. Mastery of student skills and student work readiness can be improved if students' fieldwork practices are improved.

Backshoring readiness

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to delineate key aspects of backshoring readiness and discuss how such aspects contribute to a smooth shift-back from global sourcing operations. It aims to answer the following questions: which factors constitute backshoring readiness and how these factors affect the backshoring transition.Design/methodology/approachBased on theory departure from the organizational readiness field and the emerging field on backshoring, a conceptual model is developed. A multiple qualitative case study is then conducted to exemplify the backshoring readiness factors delineated in the study.FindingsThe study indicates that due to previous outsourcing, limitations concerning the availability of firms’ capabilities are affected by ownership structures and that backshoring appears to be time-sensitive. The study delineates three key aspects of backshoring readiness and proposes a comprehensive understanding of readiness as an important construct to enhance successful backshoring.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are limited by the nature of this conceptual study, the restriction to a high-cost context and the small number of cases. Therefore, conclusions and proposed recommendations need to be further investigated in preferably larger samples of case studies.Practical implicationsBy introducing contextual variables that go beyond traditional cost considerations, this work should be of special interest for both practitioners and academics, because the absorptive capacity for the exploitation of cutting-edge knowledge is globally scarce and hence rather expensive in Western countries compared with traditionally low-cost countries. Another practical contribution of this study is the conceptual backshoring readiness framework itself, as it can guide firms acquainting themselves with the resource availability in their home environment.Originality/valueThe research defines key resources needed to facilitate backshoring readiness in a conceptual framework developed from literature, which is then exemplified by a case study. This framework conceptualizes backshoring readiness as aspects of requirements to knowledge, technology and supplier infrastructures. Furthermore, the readiness framework developed provides firms and their managers with six recommendations that can enable a rigorous evaluation of a firm’s readiness to embark on backshoring and reflect on the aspect of fitness of its current strategies.

Developmental Changes in Movement Related Brain Activity in Early Childhood

In a previous MEG study of movement-related brain activity in preschool age children, we reported that pre-movement fields and sensorimotor cortex oscillations differed from those typically observed in adults, suggesting that maturation of cortical motor networks is still incomplete by late preschool age (Cheyne et al., 2014). Here we describe the same measurements in an older group of school-aged children (6 to 8 years old) and an adult control group, in addition to repeated recordings in seven children from the original study approximately two years later. Differences were observed both longitudinally within children and between age groups. Pre-movement (readiness) fields were still not present in the oldest children, however both frequency and magnitude of movement-related mu (8-12Hz) and beta (15-30Hz) oscillations demonstrated linear increases with age. In contrast, movement-evoked gamma synchronization demonstrated a step-like transition from low (30-50 Hz) to high (70-90 Hz) narrow-band oscillations, and this occurred at different ages in different children. These data provide novel evidence of linear and non-linear changes in motor cortex oscillations and delayed development of the readiness field throughout early childhood. Individual children showed large differences in maturation of movement-related brain activity, possibly reflecting differing rates of motor development.

Motor Function

Voluntary movements are preceded by slow brain activity, visible in EEG as the Bereitschaftspotential (the readiness potential), and in MEG as the readiness field. These slow shifts can begin a few seconds before movement onset in the primary motor cortex and in the premotor areas. Cortex–muscle coherence refers to coupling between MEG/EEG signals and the surface EMG of a steadily contracted muscle; it typically occurs at around 20 Hz and implies an efferent drive from the cortex to the muscle. Corticokinematic coherence can be measured as the coupling between MEG/EEG signals and the acceleration or velocity of a rhythmically moving limb; it typically occurs are the movement frequency and its first harmonic. Coherence of MEG/EEG signals can be computed also with respect to other peripheral signals, such as the fundamental frequency of the voice measured with an accerometer above the subject’s throat.

Cortical Neuromagnetic Fields Preceding Voluntary Jaw Movements

Slow cortical potentials (readiness potentials, RPs) reflecting the central programming of voluntary jaw movements were reported to appear preceding the movements. However, the current source producing the RP has not yet been localized. This study aimed to determine the cortical regions involved in the central programming of bilaterally symmetrical voluntary jaw movements, by locating the current source of the neuromagnetic counterpart of the RP (readiness field, RF). The RFs were found in the fronto-lateral region bilaterally, starting around 860 and 600 ms prior to the onset of masseter and digastric electromyograms (EMGs), respectively, and gradually increasing in magnitude to the peak within 100 ms before the EMG onset. Thus, the RFs appeared long before the reported onset of the excitability increase of pyramidal tract neurons. The current sources producing the RFs were located in the precentral gyrus bilaterally, with no bilateral differences in strength. We conclude that the primary motor cortex is involved bilaterally in central programming as well as in execution of bilaterally symmetrical voluntary jaw movements.