Construction and validation of the perceived opportunity to craft scale

We developed and validated a scale to measure employees' perceived opportunity to craft (POC) in two separate studies conducted in the Netherlands (total N = 2329). POC is defined as employees' perception of their opportunity to craft their job. In Study 1, the perceived opportunity to craft scale (POCS) was developed and tested for its factor structure and reliability in an explorative way. Study 2 consisted of confirmatory analyses of the factor structure and reliability of the scale as well as examination of the discriminant and criterion-related validity of the POCS. The results indicated that the scale consists of one dimension and could be reliably measured with five items. Evidence was found for the discriminant validity of the POCS. The scale also showed criterion-related validity when correlated with job crafting (+), job resources (autonomy +; opportunities for professional development +), work engagement (+), and the inactive construct cynicism (-). We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice

The Effectiveness of Online Stress Management Training Interventions: A Systematic Literature review

The central aim of this systematic literature review study was to investigate the effectiveness of online stress management training interventions that aimed to improve employees’ well-being. The study focused both on the effectiveness of online stress management training interventions and the sustainability of the intervention effects over time. Within this literature review 18 intervention studies, conducted worldwide among 3085 participants between 2002 and 2017, were evaluated. Methodological quality was examined using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MATT). In general, the main outcomes showed that most of the interventions turned out to be effective in decreasing employees’ levels of stress. In addition, some of these studies also revealed sustainability of intervention effects over time. This suggests that online stress management interventions are a promising tool for organizations to foster employee well-being

Job Demands-Resources Interventions

The main aim of this dissertation was to examine whether positive organizational interventions based on JD-R theory can enhance employees’ work engagement and performance. This thesis presented five empirical inte

Open access wind tunnel measurements of a downwind free yawing wind turbine

A series of free yawing wind tunnel experiments was held in the Open Jet Facility (OJF) of the TU Delft. The ≈ 300 W turbine has three blades in a downwind configuration and is optionally free to yaw. Different 1.6m diameter rotor configurations are tested such as blade flexibility and sweep. This paper gives a brief overview of the measurement setup and challenges, and continues with presenting some key results. This wind tunnel campaign has shown that a three bladed downwind wind turbine can operate in a stable fashion under a minimal yaw error. Finally, a description of how to obtain this open access dataset, including the post-processing scripts and procedures, is made available via a publicly accessible website

Optimal Control for Wind Turbine Wake Mixing on Floating Platforms

Dynamic induction control is a wind farm flow control strategy that utilises wind turbine thrust variations to accelerate breakdown of the aerodynamic wake and improve downstream turbine performance. However, when floating wind turbines are considered, additional dynamics and challenges appear that make optimal control difficult. In this work, we propose an adjoint optimisation framework for non-linear economic model-predictive control, which utilises a novel coupling of an existing aerodynamic wake model to floating platform hydrodynamics. Analysis of the frequency response for the coupled model shows that it is possible to achieve wind turbine thrust variations without inducing large motion of the rotor. Using economic model-predictive control, we find dynamic induction results that lead to an improvement of 7% over static induction control, where the dynamic controller stimulates wake breakdown with only small variations in rotor displacement. This novel model formulation provides a starting point for the adaptation of dynamic wind farm flow control strategies for floating wind turbines.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication for IFAC World Congress 202

The motivational potential of meaningful work: Relationships with strengths use, work engagement, and performance

Research in the field of work and organizational psychology increasingly highlights the importance of meaningful work. Adding to this growing body of research, this study examined the complex linkage between meaningful work and performance. More specifically, we hypothesized that meaningful work has a positive relationship with an employee's performance in several and interrelated ways, via employees' use of strengths, via work engagement, and via strengths use affecting work engagement. We conducted a structural equation modeling on a sample of 459 professionals working at a global operating organization for health technology. The results provided support for the proposed model which showed a better fit than the sequential mediation model and the direct effects model. This indicates that the meaningful work-performance relationship is predicted best by multiple pathways via employees' use of strengths and work engagement. The main theoretical, practical, and methodological implications of the results are discussed