E-commerce Policy Environment, Digital Platform, and Internationalization of Chinese New Ventures: The Moderating Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic.

Drawing on institutional theory, this study investigates how institutional pressure can affect digital platform risk. Specifically, it examines whether two types of institutional pressure - domestic market e-commerce policy uncertainty and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty - affect the perceived digital platform risk for international new ventures (INVs) and its relationship with their scope of internationalization. The recent crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has further impacted this new phenomenon, thus we examine its effects on the relationships between/among domestic and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainties, digital platform risk, and the internationalization scope of INVs. We conduct four waves of a survey to test the Covid-19 effects as well as to minimize common method bias, analyzing the final sample of 394 responses from 260 Chinese INVs using structural equation modeling. The results show that domestic and foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainties positively affect the digital platform risk for INVs, with foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty having a stronger positive impact. Moreover, we find that the Covid-19 pandemic interacts asymmetrically with the relationship between domestic vs. foreign market e-commerce policy uncertainty and the digital platform risk for INVs. In addition, the pandemic strengthens the negative relationship between digital platform risk and the internationalization scope of INVs. This research broadens and strengthens our understanding of e-commerce policy and international business in the context of INVs' internationalization.

The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Performance Feedback on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance.

This study empirically analyzes how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance feedback impacts CSR performance, focusing on the performance feedback perspective of behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF). By performing generalized least squares (GLS) regression analysis based on Korean company data from 2012 to 2019, we presented evidence that positive social and historical performance feedback had a positive effect on CSR performance. Our results provide evidence that firms with higher social and historical CSR performance than CSR aspiration may have higher CSR performance than those that do not.

Pseudo-spontaneous nystagmus in horizontal semicircular canal canalolithiasis.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) involving horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) is characterized by direction-changing positional nystagmus (DCPN) in a supine roll test, and the occurrence of spontaneous nystagmus in HSCC BPPV has been reported recently. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of pseudo-spontaneous nystagmus (PSN) in patients with HSCC canalolithiasis, and evaluate the effect of the presence of PSN on treatment outcome.Between April 2014 and January 2016, 75 and 59 patients with HSCC canalolithiasis and cupulolithiasis, respectively, were enrolled. Spontaneous and positional nystagmus were examined.PSN was observed in 31 of 75 patients (41%) with HSCC canalolithiasis, and 55 of 59 patients (93%) with HSCC cupulolithiasis. PSN persisted during the period of observation, which was at least 1 minute in all patients with PSN. In HSCC canalolithiasis, direction-reversing nystagmus was observed in 58 patients (25 bilateral and 33 unilateral). Nine of 25 patients with bilateral direction-reversing nystagmus, and 22 of 33 patients with unilateral direction-reversing nystagmus showed PSN. None of 17 patients without direction-reversing nystagmus showed PSN. The direction of PSN corresponded to that of direction-reversing nystagmus in all 22 patients with unilateral direction-reversing nystagmus. The proportion of patients who recovered after 1 session of repositioning maneuver was not significantly different between patients with and without PSN (P = .867).PSN was observed more commonly in HSCC cupulolithiasis than canalolithiasis. The pathophysiologic mechanism underlying PSN can be explained by natural inclination of HSCC and medial to lateral orientation of the HSCC cupular axis in cupulolithiasis, and by spontaneous reversal of initial positional nystagmus (direction-reversing nystagmus) generated by short-term adaptation of vestibulo-ocular reflex in canalolithiasis. The presence of PSN in HSCC canalolithiasis may not affect the treatment outcome.

Fibrosis Within the Tympanic Membrane.

A primary mass lesion arising from the tympanic membrane is extremely rare. The authors report a patient of extensive fibrosis within the tympanic membrane in a 65-year-old woman who did not have a history of ear infection. The patient complained of slow progressing hearing loss on the left side without otorrhea or otalgia. Otoscopic examination showed a thick tympanic membrane with whitish mass-like bulge, and pure-tone audiometry revealed conductive hearing loss. The lesion was totally resected, and final findings of a histopathologic examination revealed extensive fibrosis with subsiding inflammation within the tympanic membrane. Fibrosis within the tympanic membrane may present with slow progressing conductive hearing loss and should be considered a possible differential diagnosis of mass lesions in the tympanic membrane.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss with positional vertigo: Initial findings of positional nystagmus and hearing outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the initial findings of positional nystagmus in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) and positional vertigo, and to compare hearing improvement among patients with different types of positional nystagmus. DESIGN: The characteristics of positional nystagmus upon initial examination were analysed, and the initial mean pure-tone audiometry (PTA) threshold was compared with that at three months after treatment. STUDY SAMPLE: Forty-four SSNHL patients with concomitant positional vertigo were included. RESULTS: Positional nystagmus was classified into five subgroups; persistent geotropic direction-changing positional nystagmus (DCPN) in head-roll test (HRT) and negative Dix-Hallpike test (DHT), persistent apogeotropic DCPN in HRT and negative DHT, positive DHT and negative HRT, persistent geotropic DCPN in HRT and positive DHT, and persistent apogeotropic DCPN in HRT and positive DHT. PTA threshold improvement was significantly greater in SSNHL patients with negative DHT than with positive DHT (p = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: When geotropic DCPN was elicited by HRT, the nystagmus was persistent, which suggests that alteration of specific gravity of the endolymph, rather than the lateral canal canalolithiasis, may be a cause of this characteristic positional nystagmus. Positive DTH may be a prognostic factor for worse hearing recovery among patients with SSNHL and positional vertigo.

Lateralization of horizontal semicircular canal canalolithiasis and cupulopathy using bow and lean test and head-roll test.

Accurate lateralization is important to improve treatment outcomes in horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). To determine the involved side in HSCC-BPPV, the intensity of nystagmus has been compared in a head-roll test (HRT) and the direction of nystagmus was evaluated in a bow and lean test (BLT). The aim of this study is to compare the results of a BLT with those of a HRT for lateralization of HSCC-canalolithiasis and cupulopathy (heavy cupula and light cupula), and evaluate treatment outcomes in patients with HSCC-canalolithiasis. We conducted retrospective case reviews in 66 patients with HSCC-canalolithiasis and 63 patients with HSCC-cupulopathy. The affected side was identified as the direction of bowing nystagmus on BLT in 55 % (36 of 66) of patients with canalolithiasis, which was concordant with the HRT result in 67 % (24 of 36) of cases (concordant group). Lateralization was determined by comparison of nystagmus intensity during HRT in 30 patients who did not show bowing or leaning nystagmus. The remission rate after the first treatment was 71 % (17 of 24) in the concordant group and 45 % (5 of 11) in the discordant group. Both bowing and leaning nystagmus were observed in all patients with cupulopathy, and the side of the null plane was identified as the affected side. In conclusion, bowing and/or leaning nystagmus were observed in only 55 % of patients with HSCC-canalolithiasis, and the first treatment based on the result of BLT alone was effective in only 45 % of the patients in whom the BLT and HRT were discordant, which may suggest that the usefulness of BLT in lateralizing the HSCC-canalolithiasis may be limited.

Nystagmus in patients with unilateral acute otitis media complicated by serous labyrinthitis.

Conclusion The patients with serous labyrinthitis caused by acute otitis media (AOM) exhibited various patterns of nystagmus in which direction-fixed irritative-type nystagmus was the most common pattern. Differential effects on inner ear function by toxic or inflammatory mediators may be responsible for the various manifestation of nystagmus. Objective This study aimed to investigate nystagmus patterns in patients with serous labyrinthitis, and discuss possible mechanisms. Methods From October 2011 to March 2014, 13 consecutive patients with serous labyrinthitis were included. Eye movements of the patients were serially examined using video-nystagmography, and patterns of nystagmus were investigated. Results The most commonly observed pattern was direction-fixed nystagmus (nine of 13 patients). Of these, eight showed irritative-type, and one showed paretic-type. Direction of nystagmus, although the intensity gradually decreased, was not changed during the course of treatment. One patient showed direction-changing spontaneous nystagmus, which changed into paretic-type direction-fixed nystagmus 1 day after myringotomy. Three patients exhibited persistent direction-changing positional nystagmus in a supine head-roll test. Of them, two showed apogeotropic and one showed geotropic type. In all 13 patients, vertigo and hearing loss were improved after the treatment.