FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- A conversation between Brig. Gen. David MacEwen, commanding general of the Soldier Support Institute, and Maj. Jon Williams, the SSI's Combined Arms Directorate chief, about strengthening the organization's esprit de corps led to a workout session that had most of the SSI officers sweating and all of the participants smiling after physical training on the morning of May 31.
Officers arrived at Semmes Lake at 5:40 a.m. for formation and had very little advance knowledge about the events to follow. The course, which started near the Semmes Lake Trolley, included a 50-meter Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck tire flip; a 300-pound duffle bag, litter carry; a 100-meter buddy carry, a 4-mile fun; and some CrossFit-like calisthenics.
"Doing lunges just before running a mile plus was definitely a challenge, but I didn't feel like I wanted to fall over," said Capt. Pamela Deville, Captains Career Course instructor. "We were all out there working as a team to get through the events, so we really had a chance to build some camaraderie."
Deville was part of a team of six officers and warrant officers who had to work together to complete the course. They were given a map at formation, along with a general overview of the events, and a safety brief. The team then had to figure out how to best get from one point to another to complete the course.
"I think the HEMMT Tire Flip was the toughest event. One tire has to weigh about 300 pounds," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dennis Stribling. "Moving that much weight, even with a buddy, 50 meters, is definitely a 'smoker.'"
After completing six events around the east side of Semmes Lake, the "iron officers" ran the path from Semmes Road to Chesnut Road, adjacent to the golf course. Traversing the less than gently rolling hills of Fort Jackson, the SSI officers found themselves at the rally point for the final exercise: 100 burpees (about 25 apiece).
"This clearly met my intent. I wanted to get my officers together to see what they are made of," MacEwen said. "They proved to me that they are a physically fit group, willing to get the job done with limited guidance. The officers of the SSI have great team spirit."
MacEwen said he plans to continue to emphasize physical training while in command and to keep things interesting with the unexpected. The Iron PT session will continue a quarterly series, which is designed to encourage officers, warrant officers and noncommissioned officers to think outside the box, have fun and increase esprit de corps across the SSI through physical training.
The various properties of iron-platinum nanoparticles allow them to function in multiple ways. In standard conditions, FePt NPs exist in the face-centered cubic phase with a 3 to 10 nanometer diameter.[7] However, once heat is added the structure becomes face-centered tetragonal.
Plant viruses, such as Cowpea mosaic virus and Tobacco mosaic virus, enlarge the average radius of the FePt NPs through direct mineralization.[8] The virus acts as a natural template to monodisperse nanoparticles up to 30 nanometers in diameter.[9] The size increase of the bimetallic nanoparticles enables a wider range of biological applications.
Platinum nanoparticles become more chemically stable when alloyed with iron, cobalt, or nickel. The platinum alloys also have a better detection range and catalytic activity than platinum alone.[citation needed] These magnetic metal additions to platinum reduce the overall sensitivity to oxidation while maintaining the desirable magnetic properties.[10][unreliable source?] Combined, FePt nanoparticles can be synthesized for medical applications. One method of synthesis uses incident laser technology to irradiate solutions containing iron and platinum to combine the two alloys. A laser beam is emitted onto a 4:1 mixture of iron (III) acetylacetonate and platinum (II) acetylacetonate dissolved in methanol.[11] The black precipitates are then washed and dried on silicon substrates to be characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction.
An alternative method of synthesis involves the coreduction of chloroplatinic acid (H2PtCl6) and iron (II) chloride in water-in-oil microemulsions.[3] In this process, the normal face-centered cubic structure is transformed to a face-centered tetragonal configuration, offering a higher density product useful for many storage media applications.
FePt NPs are promising materials for ultra-high density magnetic recording media due to their high coercivity. Higher coercivity indicates the material cannot be demagnetized easily. After annealing at 700 C, the film can have up to 14KOe coercivity compared to common hard drives that have 5KOe coercivity.[13] Nanoparticles have also been grown with coercivities up to 37 kOe.[14]
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Abstract: We have investigated platinum catalysts containing iron as a modifier to obtain catalysts with superior electrocatalytic activity toward glycerol electro-oxidation in an alkaline medium. The electrocatalysts, supported on carbon Vulcan, were synthesized by the polyol method. The physicochemical characterization data showed that the metals were well distributed on the carbon support and had small particle size (2 nm). The Pt:Fe metal ratio differed from the nominal composition, indicating that reducing iron with platinum was difficult, even though some parameters of the synthesis process were changed. Electrochemical analyses revealed that PtFe/C was more active and stable than commercial Pt/C was, and analysis of the electrolysis by-products showed that iron addition to Pt/C boosted the glycerol conversion and selectivity for glyceric acid formation. Keywords: electrocatalysis; glycerol oxidation; Pt-based catalyst; alkaline medium
Lima, Vanderlei S., Thiago S. Almeida, and Adalgisa R. De Andrade. 2023. "Glycerol Electro-Oxidation in Alkaline Medium with Pt-Fe/C Electrocatalysts Synthesized by the Polyol Method: Increased Selectivity and Activity Provided by Less Expensive Catalysts" Nanomaterials 13, no. 7: 1173.
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