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This paper aims to appraise the effectiveness of gender quotas in breaking the glass ceiling for women on boards (WoBs) in companies that are legally obliged to comply with quotas (listed companies and state-owned companies, LP) and in those that are not (unlisted companies and nonstate-owned companies, NLNP). Furthermore, it investigates the glass cliff phenomenon, according to which women are more likely to be appointed to apical positions in underperforming companies.

A balanced panel data of the top 116 Italian companies by total assets, which are present in both 2010 and 2017, is used for estimating ANOVA tests across sectors and fixed-effects panel regression models.

WoBs significantly increased in both the LP and the NLNP companies, and this increase was greater in the financial sector. Furthermore, the relationship between the percentage of WoBs and firm performance is not linear but depends on the financial corporate health. Specifically, the situation in which a woman ascends to a leadership position in challenging circumstances where the risk of failure is high (glass cliff phenomenon) is only present in companies with the lowest performance in the sample, in other words, when negative values of Roe and negative or zero values of Roa occur together.

These findings have relevant policy implications that encourage the adoption of gender quotas even in specific top positions, such as CEO or president, as this could lead to a “double spillover effect” both vertically, that is, in other job positions, and horizontally, toward other companies not targeted by quotas. Practical interventions to support women in glass cliff positions, on the other hand, relate to the extent of supervisor mentoring and support to prevent women from leaving director roles and strengthen their chances for career advancement.

The authors explore the ability of gender quotas to break through the glass ceiling in companies that are not legally obliged to do so, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the glass cliff phenomenon in the Italian context.

This paper introduced the simple synthesis process of self-cleaning coating with fog-resistance property using hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer and nano-calcium carbonate (nano-CaCO₃) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂).

The synthesis method of PDMS/nano-CaCO₃-TiO₂ is based on sol-gel process. The crosslinking between PDMS and nanoparticles is driven by the covalent bond at temperature of 50°C. The 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane is used as binder for nanoparticles attachment in polymer matrix. Two fabrication methods are used, which are dip- and spray-coating methods.

The prepared coated glass fulfilled the requirement of standard self-cleaning and fog-resistance performance. For the self-cleaning test BS EN 1096-5:2016, the coated glasses exhibited the dust haze value around 20%–25% at tilt angle of 10°. For the antifog test, the coated glasses showed the fog haze value were below 2% and the gloss value were above 85%. The obtained results completely achieved the standard antifog value ASTM F659-06 protocol.

Findings will provide an infrastructure support for the building glass to enhance building’s energy efficiency, cleaning performance and friendly environment.

This study proposed the simple synthesis method using hydrophobic polymer and nano-CaCO₃ and nano-TiO₂, which can achieve optimum self-cleaning property at low tilt angle and fog-resistance performance for building glass.

The research findings have high potential for building company, cleaning building company and government sector. The proposed project capable to reduces the energy consumption about 20% per annum due to labor cost, time-consuming and safety during manual cleaning.

The novel method to develop self-cleaning coating with fog-resistance using simple synthesis process and fabrication method for building glass application.

Glass material is largely used for load-bearing components in buildings. For this reason, standardized calculation methods can be used in support of safe structural design in common loading and boundary conditions. Differing from earlier literature efforts, the present study elaborates on the load-bearing capacity, failure time and fire endurance of ordinary glass elements under fire exposure and sustained mechanical loads, with evidence of major trends in terms of loading condition and cross-sectional layout. Traditional verification approaches for glass in cold conditions (i.e. stress peak check) and fire endurance of load-bearing members (i.e. deflection and deflection rate limits) are assessed based on parametric numerical simulations.

The mechanical performance of structural glass elements in fire still represents an open challenge for design and vulnerability assessment. Often, special fire-resisting glass solutions are used for limited practical applications only, and ordinary soda-lime silica glass prevails in design applications for load-bearing members. Moreover, conventional recommendations and testing protocols in use for load-bearing members composed of traditional constructional materials are not already addressed for glass members. This paper elaborates on the fire endurance and failure detection methods for structural glass beams that are subjected to standard ISO time–temperature for fire exposure and in-plane bending mechanical loads. Fire endurance assessment methods are discussed with the support of Finite Element (FE) numerical analyses.

Based on extended parametric FE analyses, multiple loading, geometrical and thermo-mechanical configurations are taken into account for the analysis of simple glass elements under in-plane bending setup and fire exposure. The comparative results show that – in most of cases – thermal effects due to fire exposure have major effects on the actual load-bearing capacity of these members. Moreover, the conventional stress peak verification approach needs specific elaborations, compared to traditional calculations carried out in cold conditions.

The presented numerical results confirm that the fire endurance analysis of ordinary structural glass elements is a rather complex issue, due to combination of multiple aspects and influencing parameters. Besides, FE simulations can provide useful support for a local and global analysis of major degradation and damage phenomena, and thus support the definition of simple and realistic verification procedures for fire exposed glass members.

This paper aims to design the nano-titanium dioxide (TiO₂) coating system which has superhydrophilic property, self-cleaning mechanism and antifog property as well as strong adhesion on glass substrate.

Two hydrophilic materials have been used such as TiO₂ nanoparticles as fillers and hydrophilic copolymer, Pluronic F-127 by using simple sol–gel approach. The prepared solution was applied onto glass through dip- and spray-coating techniques and then left for drying at ambient temperature.

The nano-TiO₂ superhydrophilic coating has achieved the water contact angle of 4.9° ± 0.5°. The superhydrophilic coating showed great self-cleaning effect against concentrated syrup and methylene blue where thin layer of water washes the dirt contaminants away. The nano-TiO₂ coating exhibits great antifog performance that maintains high transparency of around 89% when the coated glass is placed above hot-fog vapor for 10 min. The fog droplets were condensed into water film which allowed the transmission of light through the glass. The strong adhesion of coated glass shows no total failure at scratch profile when impacted with scratch load of 500, 800 and 1,200 mN.

Findings will be useful in the development of self-cleaning superhydrophilic coating that is applicable on building glass and photovoltaic panel.

The developed nano-TiO₂ coating is developed by the combination of hydrophilic organic copolymer–inorganic TiO₂ network to achieve great superhydrophilic property, optimum self-cleaning ability and supreme antifog performance.

The findings will be useful for residents in building glass window where the application will reduce dust accumulation and keep the glass clean for longer period.

The synthesis of nano-TiO₂ superhydrophilic coating which can be sprayed on large glass panel and cured at ambient temperature.

This study aims to assess the efficacy of nano-alumina (nano-Al₂O₃) in improving the performance of epoxy adhesives used to assemble archaeological glass. The conservators face a significant problem in assembling this type of artifact. Therefore, the assembling process is considered one of the important stages that must be taken care of to preserve these artifacts from damage and loss.

To evaluate the stability of adhesives, the samples were subjected to artificial aging under varying environmental conditions. Some investigative techniques and mechanical testing were used in this study to evaluate the selected materials. It includes a transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, visual assessment, digital microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), color change and tensile strength test.

The visual evaluation and the digital microscope results showed that the epoxy/nano-Al₂O₃ greatly resisted artificial aging. Although slight yellowing was present, it did not significantly affect the general appearance of the samples. On the other hand, the pure epoxy sample showed cracks of different sizes on its surface due to aging, as evidenced by SEM examination. Furthermore, epoxy/nano-Al₂O₃ has a better tensile strength (11.27 MPa) and slight color change (ΔE = 2.06).

The main objective of the experimental study was to identify appropriate adhesive materials that possess key properties such as non-yellowing and improved tensile strength by conducting various tests and evaluations. Ultimately, the goal was to identify materials that could serve as effective adhesives for assembling the archaeological glass.

The aim of this study is to determine the fracture behavior of wool felt and fabric based epoxy composites and their responses to electromagnetic waves.

Notched and unnotched tensile tests of composites made of wool only and hybridized with a glass fiber layer were carried out, and fracture behavior and toughness at macro scale were determined. They were exposed to electromagnetic waves between 8 and 18 GHz frequencies using two horn antennas.

The keratin and lignin layer on the surface of the wool felt caused lower values to be obtained compared to the mechanical values given by pure epoxy. However, the use of wool felt in the symmetry layer of the laminated composite material provided higher mechanical values than the composite with glass fiber in the symmetry layer due to the mechanical interlocking it created. The use of wool in fabric form resulted in an increase in the modulus of elasticity, but no change in fracture toughness was observed. As a result of the electromagnetic analysis, it was also seen in the electromagnetic analysis that the transmittance of the materials was high, and the reflectance was low throughout the applied frequency range. Hence, it was concluded that all of the manufactured materials could be used as radome material over a wide band.

Sheep wool is an easy-to-supply and low-cost material. In this paper, it is presented that sheep wool can be evaluated as a biocomposite material and used for radome applications.

The combined evaluation of felt and fabric forms of a natural and inexpensive reinforcing element such as sheep wool and the combined evaluation of fracture mechanics and electromagnetic absorption properties will contribute to the evaluation of biocomposites in aviation.

Although event industry employees are predominantly female, there is a critical scarcity of women in leadership roles. Like other industries worldwide, women in the events industry experience several barriers to leadership roles. The unique characteristics of the events industry exacerbate these barriers and have led to more women leaving the company or even the industry. This study aims to investigate the impact of leadership barriers, including the perception of a glass ceiling and the importance of leadership skills in promotion decisions on career satisfaction, work-family conflict and turnover intention of employees in the events industry.

Data was collected from members of an international event association, and 427 responses were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings suggested the perception of a glass ceiling and the importance of leadership skills in promotion can impact career satisfaction, work-family conflict and turnover intention of employees in the events industry.

This study extends the scope of research on leadership barriers beyond assessing their causes by analyzing their outcomes in the event industry. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first in event research and the broader hospitality industry to consider the perceptions of male and female employees regarding leadership barriers by using a foundation of the social role theory.

The industrial application of continuous glass fabric-reinforced polymer composites (GFRPCs) is growing; however, the manufacturing boundedness of complex structures and the high cost of molds restrict their use. This research proposes a three-dimensional (3 D) printing process for GFRPCs that allows low-cost and rapid fabrication of complex composite parts.

The composite is manufactured using a digital light processing (DLP) based Vat-photopolymerization (VPP) process. For the composites, suitable resin material and glass fabrics are chosen based on their strength, stiffness, and printability. Jacob's working curve characterizes the curing parameters for adequate adhesion between the matrix and fabrics. The tensile and flexural properties were examined using UTM. The fabric distribution and compactness of the cured resin were analyzed in scanning electron microscopy.

The result showed that the object could print at a glass fabric content of 40 volume%. In DLP-based VPP printing technology, the adequate exposure time was found to be 30 seconds for making a GFRPC. The tensile strength and Young's modulus values were increased by 5.54 and 8.81 times, respectively than non-reinforced cured specimens. The flexural strength and modulus were also effectively increased to 2.8 and 3 times more than the neat specimens. In addition, the process is found to help fabricate the functional component.

The experimental procedure to fabricate GFRPC specimens through DLP-based AM is a spectacular experimental approach.

The paper aims to investigate the effect of Degussa P-25 Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles on hydrophobicity and self-cleaning ability as a single organic coating on glass substrate.

Two methods have been used to enhance the hydrophobicity on glass substrates, namely, surface modification by using low surface energy isooctyltrimethoxysilane (ITMS) solution and construction of rough surface morphology using Degussa P-25 TiO₂ nanoparticles with simple bottom-up approach. The prepared sol was applied onto glass substrate using dip-coating technique and stoved in the vacuum furnace 350°C.

The ITMS coating with nano TiO₂ pigment has modified the glass substrate surface by achieving the water contact angle as high as 169° ± 2° and low sliding angle of 0° with simple and low-cost operation. The solid and air phase interface has created excellent anti-dirt and self-cleaning properties against dilute ketchup solution, mud and silicon powder.

Findings will be useful in the development of self-cleaning and anti-dirt coating for photovoltaic panels.

Sol method provides the suitable medium for the combination of organic–inorganic network to achieve high superhydrophobicity and optimum self-cleaning ability.

Application of blended organic–inorganic sol as self-cleaning and anti-dirt coating film.