Kinematic quality of reaching movements in preterm infants

Many preterm infants may experience so-called minor developmental disorders; however, in general, the problems in motor behavior are not detected until school age. To introduce therapies aimed at the prevention of these problems, we need to increase our knowledge of motor function and dysfunction at early age. The present study focused on the organization of reaching movements in full-term and preterm infants without cerebral palsy. The reaching behavior of premature infants (n = 63) was assessed longitudinally at the corrected ages of 4 and 6 mo. Clinical assessments were made at 6 and 12 mo of age. On the basis of the infant's morbidity during the early stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, the preterm infants were allocated into a high-risk and a low-risk group. Results from a previous study in full-term infants (n = 13) were included. Kinematics of reaching movements in supine position were measured, and the analysis focused on movement velocity and movement units. A compound parameter of kinematic variables was created, reflecting the quality of reaching movements. The present study showed that at the age of 4 mo, low-risk preterm infants showed more often optimal reaching behavior than full-term and preterm high-risk infants. This better reaching performance was related to a better general motor and behavioral development during the first year of life. At the age of 6 mo, the advantage of the low-risk group in reaching behavior had disappeared and a disadvantage in the form of nonoptimal reaching behavior of the high-risk group emerged

Environmental influences on MNE subsidiary roles: economic integration and the Nordic countries

We seek to examine the importance of environmental factors in determining MNE subsidiary roles. In particular, we examine the environmental factors associated with ‘deep’ integration schemes such as the EU. Such schemes require a convergence of economic structure, due to the establishment of common regional institutions, regulations and policies. Specifically, we distinguish between the scope of activities performed by subsidiaries, and the level of competence of those subsidiaries. The empirical analysis is based on a large-scale survey of foreign-owned units in Denmark, Finland and Norway. These Nordic countries differ with regard to their EU-membership status – Norway being the ‘outsider’, while the others are members – but are very similar to each other in most other respects. Our data show that subsidiaries in Norway report significantly lower scores for both scope of activities and levels of competence. The effects remain strong even when we are controlling for other potentially influential factors. The findings indicate that being on the ‘outside’ of the EU may indeed carry the price of becoming less attractive to MNE activity. Journal of International Business Studies (2003) 34, 443–456. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400047