The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI; Hebrew: הוועד הציבורי נגד עינויים בישראל) is an Israeli human rights organisation specifically dedicated to combating torture, and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment (CIDT). PCATI, an independent human rights organization, was founded in 1990 in reaction to what it describes as "the ongoing policy of the Israeli government, which permitted the systematic use of torture and ill treatment in GSS interrogations".
PCATI monitors detention centers and continues the struggle against the use of torture in interrogation in Israel using legal means, supporting relevant legislation and an information campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the subject. PCATI cooperates with other human rights organizations, Israeli, Palestinian and international, in its struggle against the use of torture in Israel and for the implementation of international law and international humanitarian law in Israeli law and practice.
PCATI acts on behalf of all people—Israelis, Palestinians, labor immigrants and other foreigners residing in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories—with the aim of protecting them from torture and ill-treatment by the Israeli security authorities.
PCATI won a historic victory when, on 6 September 1999, in response to petitions of principle PCATI began submitting to the High Court of Justice in 1991, and petitions filed together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Hamoked–Center for the Defense of the Individual and others, the High Court prohibited the use of various means of torture that were systematically employed by the GSS until that time. Following this, there was a significant decrease in the number of complaints regarding torture or the use of the harsh methods previously used. However, following the onset of the Second Intifada in September 2000, there was, again, a sharp increase in the number of complaints of torture and ill treatment indicating a reversion to the methods prohibited by the High Court of Justice. This resulted from the exploitation of "necessity defense" opening allowed by the Court in its ruling, or by altogether denying the fact that physical force was used in interrogation, which victims would find difficult to challenge. There was also a widening of the phenomenon of the ill treatment of Palestinian detainees by soldiers and other members of the security forces. In light of this, PCATI expanded its activities and began employing field workers and external attorneys to assist the in-house staff in the investigation and treatment of cases of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT). PCATI has, in addition continued to search for additional ways to combat torture, CIDT and related violations of human rights and particularly the issue of impunity, and to develop its legal and public advocacy methodology.
In December 1996, PCATI, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Gaza, received the Human Rights Award of the French Republic from the President of France.
PCATI, as a human rights and social change organization, is engaged in outreach and education programs aimed at raising and engaging public discourse and consciousness regarding torture, impunity and related violations of human rights.
PCATI hopes in this way to influence policy makers, professionals and their associations, and the general public with the intent of converting such influence to pressure for policy change.
In 2009, PCATI released a report titled "Shackling as a Form of Torture and Abuse" that accused Israel of torturing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners by shackling them in violation of international standards. The report also called into question Israel's refusal to allow the Red Cross to inspect Facility 1391, a secret prison which has been called Israel's "Guantanamo Bay".
^ "About PCATI". Public committee against Torture. Archived from the original on 2012-03-10.
^ "Report finds Israel still torturing Palestinians". Inter Press Service. 2009-06-26.
This page was last edited on 28 November 2018, at 00:45 (UTC).


SoCal Mobile Massage, LLC offers catered massages. Catered massages allow you and your significant other the opportunity to have a couples massage and then enjoy a spectacular dinner prepared by a first rate private chef customized for you. Perfect for an Anniversary or Birthday celebration and guaranteed to relax and satisfy your body and spirit.
We also offer our catered massage option for corporate parties, events, and spa parties.
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text:
namespace Graphs.Data
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        public Edge(double distance, WeightedNode<T> from, WeightedNode<T> to)
        {
            this.Distance = distance;
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


An open letter from Ross Greer MSP to Scotland's school leaders.
Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence is based on the idea that we support our young people to become responsible citizens. Every school student who takes action against the climate crisis on Friday is doing exactly that. They should know that they will not be punished for defending their own future. They have the Scottish Greens' support and I hope they will have the support of their teachers and education authorities.
The scientific evidence of a climate crisis is clear. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that the world will see catastrophic impacts even if countries managed to limit warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target we are not close to reaching. Governments, including here in Scotland, need to act even faster than previously agreed. Young people have every right to be angry that their future is being destroyed by the inaction, complacency and greed of today's leaders.
The Climate Bill going through the Scottish Parliament now is not nearly strong enough and doesn't respond to the latest science, so it is no wonder that many young people feel they are being badly let down. The Greens are working for a Climate Emergency Bill that spurs bold action capable of meeting the scientific reality of this crisis.
As education leaders, I urge you to show you understand the fight faced by this generation. Punitive action would be inappropriate and pointless when the future of our species' life support system is at stake. Such action would also send a harmful message that civic engagement is discouraged at a time where our survival will almost certainly depend on the mass mobilisation of people in every corner of the Earth.
I trust that in the face of this crisis you will take appropriate actions to support these brave young people.


text:
Home	In Depth	Special Reports	New rules for advisors and financial planners?	Half full or half empty?
Focus on Financial Planning
Cary List
There's much to commend in the Ontario government's Expert Committee's preliminary recommendations, but also some areas that need to be revisited
By: Cary List
The Ontario government-appointed Expert Committee to Consider Financial Advisory and Financial Planning Policy Alternatives (Expert Committee) weighed in with its recommendations on April 5 after much anticipation. Included in this draft are eight preliminary policy recommendations on which the Expert Committee is seeking public input prior to delivering its final recommendations to the Ontario government this autumn. Although there is much to support within the Expert Committee's recommendations, they also miss the mark in some key areas.
In developing the eight relatively simple, straightforward recommendations, the Expert Committee established several core principles that act as a beacon for the ultimate recommendations, all of which are laudable.
The first of these core principles is at the crux of the issue: any solution must be seen through the lens of the consumer, thereby ensuring that opportunities for turf protection will have no place within the final recommendations. The Expert Committee also recognized that any recommendations must give due consideration to the importance of the financial services industry and its participants to Ontario's economy.
The Expert Committee also commented that any solution must avoid unnecessary complexity and duplication. These principles are critical to ensure the financial services industry can continue to thrive, and to provide consumers with every opportunity to access quality professional financial planning.
Finally, tackling the enhancement of regulatory cohesion and consistency, while a holy grail in this country, is laudable.
Within the recommendations, there's much to commend, including:
Harmonization of standards for education, training, credentialing and licensing of financial planners, if properly implemented, can go a long way toward enhancing consumer confidence in financial planners and reducing confusion about the qualifications and competencies of individuals dealing with their financial matters.
Introducing a best interest duty is worthy and consistent with the expectations of every other recognized profession in Canada. To this end, consumers seeking professional financial planning guidance and advice will have greater confidence that they can trust their financial planner if he or she is unequivocally obligated to always put their client's interest first.
One of the greatest sources of consumer confusion is the myriad titles and credentials used throughout the financial services industry to describe or suggest any number of skills or competencies. Without any statutory restrictions or regulatory rules to ensure the title is descriptive of the service provided and that the credentials floated are genuinely meaningful and indicate legitimate demonstration of the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities that the client should be able to expect, consumers will continue to be confused. Thus, the Expert Committee recommends restricting titles — particularly that of "financial planner" — to those who are qualified and duly certified. Eliminating the use of other titles that serve only to confuse or mislead would be a big step forward, going a long way toward reducing consumer confusion.
Although most regulators, professional bodies and associations maintain registries in which consumers can search for licensed, registered or certified individuals, the establishment and promotion of a "one-stop shop" in the form of a central registry, coupled with plain language titles, can reduce the burden on the consumer to search for the "right advisor."
Supporting and encouraging the financial literacy of Ontarians is a recommendation only Scrooge would oppose.
Despite these commendable goals, the Expert Committee's attempt to simplify a very complex and longstanding issue has created more questions than answers, and in some instances, has missed the mark when it comes to some of its own principles. Specifically:
The Expert Committee recommends that financial planning in Ontario should be regulated. Although regulating or restricting the title, or holding out, of "financial planners" is straightforward and provides additional protection for consumers, the Expert Committee has chosen to extend its recommendation to regulating all "financial planning activity."
The definition used to describe "financial planning" is reasonable, but it remains unclear what regulation of this activity would actually mean in practice and how that might differ from activities that the self-regulatory organizations (SROs) already regulate. It's also unclear how regulatory cohesion would be achieved by tasking not less than four regulatory or self-regulatory bodies with the regulation of all financial planning activity of their members.
The Expert Committee's recommendation that individuals who currently "perform financial planning activities outside the current regulatory framework" have their activities regulated by the new FSRA creates an undue, unnecessary and impractical regulatory burden on the myriad individuals who have been trained to provide some specific form of financial planning activity as part of public or other services. This includes, for example, credit counselling or community services, tax preparers and even lawyers. Any attempts to regulate "financial planning" activity broadly will lead to untenable regulatory burden and confusion as well as more problems in practice than it will solve in furthering the public interest.
Although harmonization of standards is appropriate, this recommendation offers no insight or guidance as to how this will be achieved. "Working co-operatively" is always a good thing, but any attempts to date to address this issue have been less than successful. It remains unclear what this proposal does to change that, and there is no reference to well-accepted National standards already in existence.
The recommendation that addresses financial titles and holding out, while laudable in its intent, creates more questions than it does answers. Once again, it is recommended that "regulators work together to develop a circumscribed list of approved titles." Although that's a laudable aspirational statement, it's far from clear how it can be achieved — particularly given the failed history of past regulatory harmonization efforts.
The Expert Committee's recommendations raise many unanswered questions, but they provide several necessary elements for a strong foundation to move ahead. By building policy solutions based on the Expert Committee's stated principles, a practical, sustainable policy solution may be within grasp.
However, this can only be achieved by unprecedented co-operation among governments, regulators, professional bodies and industry associations to address the many outstanding issues and ultimate implementation challenges that lie ahead.
Will the Ontario Expert Committee's policy recommendations succeed?
Much support for Ontario expert panel's recommendations
Expert committee calls for regulation of financial planning, statutory duty
Ontario one step closer to regulating financial planners
Ontario commits to move forward on regulating financial planners
Expert Committee's proposed rules could have far-reaching implications
Call for standards
Expert Committee's final report recommends new rules for advisors, financial planners
Financial planning,
Fxpert committee
Latest news In Cary List
The future has never looked brighter
In his final column, Cary List shares his thoughts on the future of financial planning
Financial literacy: taking the long view
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's renewed national strategy for financial literacy can help Canadians focus on the future
Toward a grand renewal
Financial planners can play a key role in rebuilding Canadians' confidence
On the cusp of momentous change in Ontario
A new regulatory framework, years in the making, is an opportunity for Ontario to be a model for other provinces

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: url character encoding in an angular template Our app requires an email be sent to a formatted address for tracking purposes the format required to be sent to the mail client is like this:
<a href="mailto\:David Contact<{contactId=2} {userId=2} {pitchingInitiativeId=9}@mail.com>" target="_blank">

In my template I format the href string like this...
mailto:{{contact.name}}<{contactId={{contact.contactId}}} {userId={{userId}}} {pitchingInitiativeId={{pitchingInitiativeId}}}@propelmymail.com>

This results in a mailto link that is formatted like this:
mailto:Reporter%3C%7BcontactId=1%7D%20%7BuserId=7%7D%20%7BpitchingInitiativeId=21%7D@propelmymail.com%3E

Which is obviously not correct. How do I fix this so a mailto link is formatted correctly? I believe that there is a general understanding that special characters are dangerous in URLS, but in this case it's the requirement. I guess I have just never learned how to escape them or mark them as safe.

A:
Which Characters Are Allowed in URLs?
Not all special characters will cause an issue in your URLs. There are
many safe characters. Other non-safe characters risk poor readability,
breaking some browsers and causing issues for crawlers.
Safe characters
Standard characters:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y
z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Special characters:
$ – _ . + ! * ' ( ) ,

From: https://www.abramillar.com/2018/01/15/special-characters-short-words-urls/
Also take a look at -
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax

It is per design that you shouldn't be allowed to parse in other characters.
What I would suggest is to put in whatever you need to track, into the title or email body.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Global Business Sector of Mauritius: Time for a Paradigm Shift?
Over the last week, our lovely little island has become the stage of much debate – at times very acrimonious – on the future of our global business sector, commonly referred to as the 'offshore' sector, against the backdrop of the double taxation avoidance agreement between Mauritius and India (the "Mauritius-India DTAA"). Whilst I shall not purport to comment on the re-negotiated terms, if any, of the Mauritius-India DTAA pending the disclosure of any such amended terms, it is nonetheless worth mentioning, at this stage, that any unfavourable change in the capital gains tax position and the withholding tax position under the Mauritius-India DTAA will undoubtedly call for a paradigm shift in the dynamics of the Mauritian global business sector.
As several commentators have pointed out recently, if Mauritius loses its taxing rights on capital gains under the Mauritius-India DTAA, this is likely to lead to an inexorable erosion of the multitude of investment funds that seek to avail of the various advantages of the Mauritius portal to access the opportunities which the Indian market offers, including, to name but a few, in sectors such as infrastructure, oil & gas, real estate, I.T., healthcare & life sciences, leisure & hospitality, among others. Such investment funds typically pool capital from groups of investors located in countries such as the USA, the UK, France, Germany etc. to invest in the Indian companies which already operate in the above-mentioned sectors, and, after a few years, they seek to make an 'exit' by selling their shares in the relevant Indian companies in the hope to realise a capital gain for their investors who took the risks commonly associated with any such investments.
Under the current form of the Mauritius-India DTAA, any such gain would be taxable in Mauritius, which does not charge capital gains tax on such transactions, thereby making Mauritius a jurisdiction of choice for India-bound investments. If, as a result of any amendment to the Mauritius-India DTAA as has been reported in the press, the right to tax capital gains shifts to India, there would be no real advantage for promoters and investors to use the Mauritius platform to invest in India.
Another important feature of our investor-friendly tax regime which has contributed to the success of Mauritius as an international financial services centre has been the rate of withholding tax (being applicable to bank interest) which is currently at 0%. In effect, thanks to the nil rate of withholding tax, we have witnessed several large multinational groups servicing their multi-million, or even, multi-billion, dollar borrowing needs through Mauritius-incorporated entities as any interest on such borrowing is subject to a nil rate of withholding tax. If, in the light of any revision to the Mauritius-India DTAA, this rate is increased to, say, 7.5% as currently seems to be reported in the press, Mauritius would lose its appeal as a jurisdiction of choice through which multinationals seek to access the debt markets.
Whilst it has been argued that any such increase would still maintain our competitive edge vis-à-vis Singapore, it is worth mentioning that there are other competing jurisdictions which would become more attractive than Mauritius for the incorporation of entities seeking to raise debt in India. For instance, payments of interest from Cyprus tax residents to non-residents are exempt from Cypriot withholding tax; a multinational group with subsidiaries incorporated in various jurisdictions may therefore find it more advantageous to raise debt from an Indian corporate banking institution through one of its Cypriot entities than through a Mauritian entity. Indeed, many global conglomerates operating in the Indian market and having entities incorporated in Mauritius also have Cypriot-incorporated entities as part of their organisational structure. Similarly, the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") do not levy tax on interest income, giving them a competitive advantage over Mauritius.
The attractiveness of Mauritius as a preferred gateway for India-bound investments may take a further blow if a limitation of benefit clause ("LOB Clause") is introduced in the Mauritius-India DTAA. An LOB Clause would typically require that a company incorporated in Mauritius and seeking to access the benefits of the Mauritius-India DTAA has a minimum level of spending in Mauritius. Whilst this may be in line with evolving international trends and commendable from a 'substance' perspective, the introduction of an LOB Clause to the Mauritius-India DTAA, coupled with the loss of taxing rights in relation to capital gains and an increase in withholding tax rates, may well lead to a steady erosion of our position as the leading source of foreign direct investment into India.
Africa – The New El Dorado of the Global Business Sector?
The nefarious effects which such changes may potentially have on our domestic economy are beyond the scope of this article as commentators have already addressed the issue in sufficient detail. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that our global business sector seriously needs to look into new opportunities. Since a few years, in the wake of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules ("GAAR") in India, 'Africa' seems to have become the new buzz-word in the Mauritian global business sector, to the point of starting to sound like the new El Dorado of the industry. Whilst Africa is indeed a land of opportunities and challenges, is it really the boon of our global business sector?
Arguably, Mauritius offers various advantages as a portal for Africa-bound investments – we boast of an extensive network of double taxation avoidance agreements (15 treaties with African countries and more in the pipeline) offering fiscal efficiency, possessing a pool of highly qualified and bilingual professionals and the jurisdiction's recognition as a business-friendly environment (the World Bank in its latest "Doing Business Report" ranks Mauritius 1st in Africa and 23rd globally for ease of doing business; the Mo Ibrahim Index on Good Governance positions us 1st in Africa as does the Index of Economic Freedom). Mauritius is also the only international financial services centre that is member of all major African regional organizations (COMESA, SADC, African Union, IOR), allowing preferential access to an immediate market of over 600 million people.
However, these factors alone do not suffice to position Mauritius as an outright leader in relation to Africa-bound investments, nor are they enough to make Africa the 'new India' of our global business sector. In fact, certain recent developments may even jeopardise our position as a preferred portal for investments into Africa.
As one of the leading economies of Sub-Saharan Africa, South-Africa is of key importance to Mauritius. Under the previous version of the Mauritius-South Africa DTAA, where the tax residency of an entity was in dispute because of the possibility that the entity's "place of management" be considered to be in both states (i.e. Mauritius and South-Africa), the concept of "place of effective management" would come into play as the determining factor. This has now been removed, leaving any conflict on this matter to be determined by both States by mutual agreement; in the event of disagreement, the entity shall be considered to be outside the scope of the DTAA except for 'exchange of information' on the entity between the two countries.
This seemingly minor amendment may have potentially far-reaching consequences for a multinational group headquartered in South-Africa and/ or which takes decisions in South-Africa, albeit that such multinational group may have a Mauritian entity whose board of directors sits in Mauritius, in that they may face lots of uncertainties and may get caught in lengthy discussions as to "place of management", which may well prompt them to move their Mauritian subsidiaries to a jurisdiction which offers them greater certainty and fiscal efficiency.
From another perspective, an amendment to Paragraph 4 of Article 13 of the Mauritius-South Africa DTAA now allows South Africa to tax capital gains on the sale of shares if at least 50% of the value of such gains are derived, directly or indirectly from immovable property in South Africa. "Immovable property" includes mining rights and properties – this may leave a Mauritian global business company investing in mining companies in South-Africa in a position where it has to pay capital gains tax on the disposal of its shares in the South-African entity, which, again, makes Mauritius a less attractive jurisdiction for South Africa-bound investments, the more so, as mining and natural resources are key target sectors for Mauritius-incorporated global business companies investing in South-Africa.
Further, under the revised Mauritius-South Africa DTAA, both States can now levy tax on fees for technical or management services ("FTS"), whilst under the previous version of the DTAA, only the state in which the entity is resident was entitled to tax the FTS. South Africa has recently introduced a withholding tax of 15% on such FTS payable to non-residents, which will potentially have an impact on Mauritius resident companies earning income of a technical or managerial nature from their South African operations. Again, this is an erosion of our competitive edge in relation to South Africa driven investments from Mauritius.
The wealth of opportunities which the African continent offers has kept our competitors on their toes as they also seek to access the African market. The BVI, for instance, in seeking to position itself as a premier offshore financial services centre and as a jurisdiction of choice for Africa-bound investments, has recently created two new fund products to complement its very popular existing funds offering with the firm intention of remaining at the forefront of the financial services market. The 'incubator fund' and the 'approved fund' are two new lightly regulated fund products which are primarily aimed at start-up emerging managers and those managing funds for smaller groups of closely connected investors.
The incubator fund is aimed at fund managers who do not necessarily have the benefit of seed investor capital but who wish to set up quickly and establish a track record with minimal set-up costs and without having to comply with onerous regulatory obligations. The product is therefore expected to be very attractive to start-up managers who are seeking the best environment to grow their assets under management in the most cost-efficient manner. The approved fund is aimed at fund managers who wish to establish a fund for a longer term, but on the basis of a more private investor offering, which may appeal to family offices or an investor base of close connections. These two new products are particularly suited for Africa-driven investments as investors seeking to tap into the opportunities offered by the African market may either not be in a position to, or may not be willing to, invest significant amounts of capital and the incubator fund and the approved fund give them the opportunity to do so. It is anticipated that these two new products will be hugely popular among Africa-focussed fund managers.
In the light of the above and taking into account international developments (namely, the development of the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City in India, and the increasing pressure by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (« OECD« ), which has G20 support, to clamp-down on low-tax jurisdictions through its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), it is clear that the Mauritius global business sector is at a critical juncture where it is most urgently called upon to experience a paradigm shift. It is perhaps high time for us to look beyond tax-driven considerations to attract investors and, instead, to focus on more substantive advantages which our jurisdiction can offer to preserve its competitiveness as a premier international financial services centre.
For example, it is perhaps time to start looking at ways and means to encourage the development of a sophisticated market for derivative instruments. We are fortunate enough to have an incredibly flexible insolvency legislative framework which provides for the recognition and enforceability of netting and collateral arrangements in accordance with their respective terms in the insolvency of a Mauritian counterparty. Indeed, the ability to enforce a derivative contract in the insolvency of the counterparty is one of the key concerns of derivative and other swap providers; given the flexibility which our insolvency regime offers, our decision-makers may wish to capitalise on this advantage to showcase the attractiveness of the Mauritian international financial services centre to multinational groups which regularly raise finance through derivative instruments.
From another perspective, it is also perhaps time to lay more emphasis on the various advantages of the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre ("MIAC"), run in collaboration with the London Court of International Arbitration ("LCIA"), which is universally recognised as one of the world's leading arbitral institutions, through the LCIA-MIAC arbitration centre. The recent LCIA-MIAC conference held in Mauritius in December 2014 was no doubt a step further in this direction and the successful bid made by Mauritius in 2012 to host the 2016 congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration next May will indeed help us in promoting the Mauritius jurisdiction. In addition, the decision of the Supreme Court of Mauritius in Cruz City 1 Mauritius Holdings v/s Unitech Limited & Anor (2014 SCJ 100) has also been heralded by practitioners and commentators in the international arbitration community as signalling a pro-enforcement attitude of the Mauritian Courts, which would further enhance the appeal of the LCIA-MIAC arbitration centre in the eyes of international players.
These are but a few examples of initiatives which, in my view, the Government should consider taking with a view to preventing the erosion of our competitive edge as an international financial services of choice. As a young professional who has chosen to join the Mauritius global business sector after having worked in London and Paris respectively, I trust that our leaders will make the most of all the opportunities available to us not only to restore our threatened competitive edge, but also to ensure a sustainable development of the financial services sector, so as to encourage our youngsters who find the grass greener abroad to move back to, and, indeed, to prevent any further brain drain from, our paradise island!


text:
Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma
J. A. Waterbury, J. I. Horabin, D. Bopp, Paul Schedl
It has been suggested that sexual identity in the germline depends upon the combination of a nonautonomous somatic signaling pathway and an autonomous X chromosome counting system. In the studies reported here, we have examined the role of the sexual differentiation genes transformer (tra) and doublesex (dsx) in regulating the activity of the somatic signaling pathway. We asked whether ectopic somatic expression of the female products of the tra and dsx genes could feminize the germline of XY animals. We find that Tra(F) is sufficient to feminize XY germ cells, shutting off the expression of male-specific markers and activating the expression of female-specific markers. Feminization of the germline depends upon the constitutively expressed transformer-2 (tra-2) gene, but does not seem to require a functional dsx gene. However, feminization of XY germ cells by Tra(F) can be blocked by the male form of the Dsx protein (Dsx(M)). Expression of the female form of dsx, Dsx(F), in XY animals also induced germline expression of female markers. Taken together with a previous analysis of the effects of mutations in tra, tra-2, and dsx on the feminization of XX germ cells in XX animals, our findings indicate that the somatic signaling pathway is redundant at the level tra and dsx. Finally, our studies call into question the idea that a cell-autonomous X chromosome counting system plays a central role in germline sex determination.
Dive into the research topics of 'Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Feminization Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Carisoprodol Medicine & Life Sciences 95%
Germ Cells Medicine & Life Sciences 65%
X Chromosome Medicine & Life Sciences 49%
Genes Medicine & Life Sciences 35%
Animals Medicine & Life Sciences 32%
Sex Differentiation Medicine & Life Sciences 28%
Waterbury, J. A., Horabin, J. I., Bopp, D., & Schedl, P. (2000). Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma. Genetics, 155(4), 1741-1756.
Waterbury, J. A. ; Horabin, J. I. ; Bopp, D. ; Schedl, Paul. / Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma. In: Genetics. 2000 ; Vol. 155, No. 4. pp. 1741-1756.
@article{a1b7232a90544c0dacf3835f41da8dc0,
title = "Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma",
abstract = "It has been suggested that sexual identity in the germline depends upon the combination of a nonautonomous somatic signaling pathway and an autonomous X chromosome counting system. In the studies reported here, we have examined the role of the sexual differentiation genes transformer (tra) and doublesex (dsx) in regulating the activity of the somatic signaling pathway. We asked whether ectopic somatic expression of the female products of the tra and dsx genes could feminize the germline of XY animals. We find that Tra(F) is sufficient to feminize XY germ cells, shutting off the expression of male-specific markers and activating the expression of female-specific markers. Feminization of the germline depends upon the constitutively expressed transformer-2 (tra-2) gene, but does not seem to require a functional dsx gene. However, feminization of XY germ cells by Tra(F) can be blocked by the male form of the Dsx protein (Dsx(M)). Expression of the female form of dsx, Dsx(F), in XY animals also induced germline expression of female markers. Taken together with a previous analysis of the effects of mutations in tra, tra-2, and dsx on the feminization of XX germ cells in XX animals, our findings indicate that the somatic signaling pathway is redundant at the level tra and dsx. Finally, our studies call into question the idea that a cell-autonomous X chromosome counting system plays a central role in germline sex determination.",
author = "Waterbury, {J. A.} and Horabin, {J. I.} and D. Bopp and Paul Schedl",
journal = "Genetics",
publisher = "Genetics Society of America",
Waterbury, JA, Horabin, JI, Bopp, D & Schedl, P 2000, 'Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma', Genetics, vol. 155, no. 4, pp. 1741-1756.
Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma. / Waterbury, J. A.; Horabin, J. I.; Bopp, D.; Schedl, Paul.
In: Genetics, Vol. 155, No. 4, 29.08.2000, p. 1741-1756.
T1 - Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma
AU - Waterbury, J. A.
AU - Horabin, J. I.
AU - Bopp, D.
AU - Schedl, Paul
N2 - It has been suggested that sexual identity in the germline depends upon the combination of a nonautonomous somatic signaling pathway and an autonomous X chromosome counting system. In the studies reported here, we have examined the role of the sexual differentiation genes transformer (tra) and doublesex (dsx) in regulating the activity of the somatic signaling pathway. We asked whether ectopic somatic expression of the female products of the tra and dsx genes could feminize the germline of XY animals. We find that Tra(F) is sufficient to feminize XY germ cells, shutting off the expression of male-specific markers and activating the expression of female-specific markers. Feminization of the germline depends upon the constitutively expressed transformer-2 (tra-2) gene, but does not seem to require a functional dsx gene. However, feminization of XY germ cells by Tra(F) can be blocked by the male form of the Dsx protein (Dsx(M)). Expression of the female form of dsx, Dsx(F), in XY animals also induced germline expression of female markers. Taken together with a previous analysis of the effects of mutations in tra, tra-2, and dsx on the feminization of XX germ cells in XX animals, our findings indicate that the somatic signaling pathway is redundant at the level tra and dsx. Finally, our studies call into question the idea that a cell-autonomous X chromosome counting system plays a central role in germline sex determination.
AB - It has been suggested that sexual identity in the germline depends upon the combination of a nonautonomous somatic signaling pathway and an autonomous X chromosome counting system. In the studies reported here, we have examined the role of the sexual differentiation genes transformer (tra) and doublesex (dsx) in regulating the activity of the somatic signaling pathway. We asked whether ectopic somatic expression of the female products of the tra and dsx genes could feminize the germline of XY animals. We find that Tra(F) is sufficient to feminize XY germ cells, shutting off the expression of male-specific markers and activating the expression of female-specific markers. Feminization of the germline depends upon the constitutively expressed transformer-2 (tra-2) gene, but does not seem to require a functional dsx gene. However, feminization of XY germ cells by Tra(F) can be blocked by the male form of the Dsx protein (Dsx(M)). Expression of the female form of dsx, Dsx(F), in XY animals also induced germline expression of female markers. Taken together with a previous analysis of the effects of mutations in tra, tra-2, and dsx on the feminization of XX germ cells in XX animals, our findings indicate that the somatic signaling pathway is redundant at the level tra and dsx. Finally, our studies call into question the idea that a cell-autonomous X chromosome counting system plays a central role in germline sex determination.
JO - Genetics
JF - Genetics
Waterbury JA, Horabin JI, Bopp D, Schedl P. Sex detemination in the Drosophila germline is dictated by the sexual identity of the surrounding soma. Genetics. 2000 Aug 29;155(4):1741-1756.


Compression molding is a high-volume, high-pressure method suitable for molding complex, fiberglass-reinforced polymer parts on a rapid cycle time.
There are several types of compression molding that are defined by the type of material molded: sheet molding compound (SMC), bulk molding compound (BMC), thick molding compound (TMC), and wet lay-up compression molding. Compression molding tooling consists of heated metal molds mounted in large hydraulic presses. The process can be automated. Compression molding enables part design flexibility and features such as inserts, ribs, bosses and attachments. Good surface finishes are obtainable, contributing to lower part finishing cost. Subsequent trimming and machining operations are minimized in compression molding and labor costs are low.
The mold set is mounted in a hydraulic or mechanical molding press and the molds are heated from 250° to 400° F. A weighed charge of molding material is placed in the open mold. The two halves of the mold are closed and pressure is applied. Depending on thickness, size, and shape of the part, curing cycles range from less than a minute to about five minutes. After cure, the mold is opened and the finished part is removed. Typical parts include automobile components, appliance housings and structural components, furniture, electrical components, and business machine housings and parts.
Tooling usually consists of machined or cast metal or alloy molds that can be in either single or multiple-cavity configurations. Steel molds are hardened and sometimes chrome plated for enhanced durability. The molds are heated using steam, hot oil, or electricity. Side cores, provisions for inserts, and other refinements are often employed. Mold materials include cast of forged steel, cast iron, and cast aluminum. Matched metal molds can cost 50 times as much as an FRP open mold and tooling in the $50,000-$500,000 range is not uncommon.


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Home » WHS SIDE EVENT – Implementing…
WHS SIDE EVENT – Implementing the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda – Commitments and Opportunities
This side event will promote follow-up to the Nansen Initiative and the implementation of the Nansen Initiative Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Protection Agenda) by launching the new Platform on Disaster Displacement, which will start to work on 1 July 2016 and replace the Nansen Initiative. Like its predecessor the Nansen Initiative, co-chaired by Switzerland and Norway, the Platform on Disaster Displacement will be a state-led process, with Germany assuming Chairmanship on 01 July 2016, supported by Bangladesh as Vice-Chair.
The side event will also include a high-level panel seeking to explore ways to strengthen and broaden commitments to reduce and address disaster displacements and prepare for cross-border disaster-displacement. Expected outcomes from the side event are: 1) discussion of gaps, 2) identification of effective practises and 3) formulation of commitments to action that can make the humanitarian system better prepared to plan for and respond to disaster displacement, make vulnerable populations and communities more resilient to disaster and displacement risks, and to prevent displacement when possible.
1. Organizers and Participation
The side event will be co-organized by the Governments of Switzerland and Germany.
It will include participation by the Governments of Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji and the Philippines, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) Pacific Regional Office, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
2. Background and Rationale
Forced displacement related to disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change (disaster displacement), is among the biggest global challenges facing States and the humanitarian system in the 21st century. Every year, millions of people are displaced by disasters caused by natural hazards such as floods, tropical storms, earthquakes, landslides, droughts, salt water intrusion, glacial melting, glacial lake outburst floods, and melting permafrost. Others have to move because of the effects of sea level rise, desertification or environmental degradation.
Looking to the future, there is high agreement among scientists that disasters are expected to become more frequent and more severe. Climate change, in combination with other factors, is projected to contribute to increased displacement. A similar projection is echoed in the Secretary-General's Report to the World Humanitarian Summit, where he expresses concern that climate change exacerbates other risk factors such as food security and water scarcity, and that disasters are becoming more frequent and intense.
The Secretary-General also notes the specific disaster and displacement risks faced by people living in areas such as small low-lying islands, coastal or delta areas, high mountain areas or areas exposed to desertification. He recognizes the special support such situations require. For example, the adverse impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt in low-lying Pacific islands that are vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather events.
The situation in the Pacific is not unique. People are already being displaced by sudden-onset disasters triggered by earthquakes, tropical storms, and hurricanes etc. or have to move from highly environmentally fragile areas in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.
But national, regional and international responses to such disaster displacements are increasingly unable to address and anticipate the scale and complexity of present disasters, leaving affected and displaced populations with inadequate protection. To paraphrase a point made by the Secretary-General in his report, the humanitarian system and others 'can and must do better' to reduce risks and vulnerability, and strengthen the capacity to address disaster displacement.
3. The Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda
The Nansen Initiative was a state-led, bottom-up consultative process intended to build consensus on key principles and elements to address the protection and assistance needs of persons displaced across borders in the context of disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change. A key outcome of this process is the Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change (Protection Agenda), which has been endorsed by 109 States in October 2015. It presents a comprehensive approach on how to both prevent and address disaster displacement (internal and cross-border). It also highlights the need for policy integration and enhanced coordination across humanitarian, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and development action areas. The Protection Agenda consolidates a broad set of effective practices and policy options that can be used by States and others to reduce and manage disaster displacement, and to better protect and assist disaster displaced persons.
4. Objectives Side Event
The side event aims to promote the implementation of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda, and will mark the launch of the new Platform on Disaster Displacement which will be formally established on 01 July 2016 to follow up on the work started by the Nansen Initiative.
The side event also seeks to directly support the overall goals of the World Humanitarian Summit. It addresses the desire expressed in the SG's report for actors across different policy areas to be working more closely together, including humanitarian, development and climate change adaptation actors. It relates directly to at least two of the thematic areas reflected in the proposed high level round tables (displacement and natural disasters) and addresses in particular the objectives related to Core Responsibility Three to 'Leave no one behind'. It finally responds to the SG's call in his Agenda for Humanity to better prepare for cross-border displacement due to disasters and climate change by promoting to put in place national legislation and institutional and operational measures to better protect cross-border disaster-displaced persons.
The multi-stakeholder side event will be an opportunity to pledge commitment to concrete action by States and other key stakeholders to reduce and address displacement, and contribute to the outcomes of the goals of the WHS and the SG's Agenda for Humanity.
Read the report of the side event
Download the agenda of the side event
Read the background note
previous post: Prepare and Adapt: Climate Change and Human Mobility – in Paris and Beyond
next post: Side Event of the 67th UNHCR Executive Committee – Beyond the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda: Platform on Disaster Displacement


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Popular Events in New Zealand
There are countless cultural events in New Zealand throughout the year.
The World of Wearable Arts, also known as WOW, began as a promotion for a rural art gallery in Nelson, in 1987. Today it is an internationally renowed show. WOW is a montage of theatre, art, dance, colour and movement it is a theatrical spectacular. This is a one of a kind show that promotes New Zealands culture and creativity. The show is broadcasted internationally and many tourists come to New Zealand especially to see the show.
Wild foods Festival
This is without a doubt a very unique food festival! Up to 11,000 people can descend on Hokitika for a weekend of fun and food. Tempt your tastebuds and challenge yourself. Each year a new range of exciting foods are up on offer including worm truffles, live huhu grubs and possum pie. But don't be frigtened there are some standard fare items as well including lamb, steak and of course whitebait! Entertainment is as good as it gets with multiple stages and there's roving entertainment all day long. 2014 marks this festivals 25th year!
The IRB Rugby World Cup (RWC) is one of the largest sporting events in the world. Held every four years, the tournament was hosted in New Zealand in 2011. New Zealand fulfilled its promise to be a 'stadium of four million' for the Rugby World Cup 2011 welcoming a staggering 133,200 international rugby fans.
Toast Martinborough
Thousands of 'Toast' fans in New Zealand and around the world are already planning for this 'must do' event – a once-a-year opportunity to sample world-class wines, savour delicious cuisine and enjoy some great live entertainment in one of the country's most picturesque wine-growing villages. Set in around 10 boutique vineyards – accessible both on foot and in free shuttle buses that travel the route – the event offers festival-goers a unique opportunity to taste wines from both current and past vintages. Each has been matched with superb, restaurant-quality food and live performances from some of the best musicians in the business.
Ask us for a Free Professional Assessment!
Our Licensed Immigration Advisers and Job Search Professionals will assess your chances and let you know how you can start your migration process.
Popular Events - English


An interesting task I undertook recently was hardening our memcached infrastructure. We're an SOA shop with hundreds of deployables, most of which will interact in some way with our memcached clusters. I thought I'd take the opportunity to break down the testing process into a basic tutorial that could be repurposed for other external resources.
Due to memcached's simple functionality and consistent performance, we are able to categorize failures into three categories as seen from the client drivers.
Network traffic is slow. Memcached responds correctly but slowly. This could potentially happen if the memcached host NIC or cpu gets accidentally saturated.
Network traffic is dropped. Kind of like a black hole, tcp packets are sent by the client but no response is returned, (rejection is a response). This includes the case where the memcached host is ok (connections can be made), memcached accepts traffic, but memcached never responds to commands.
Network traffic is rejected. Perhaps the Host or the memcached process is not running.
We are successful when the following are true for each of the above three conditions.
The specified connect and read timeouts are obeyed.
The client eventually (developer specified) notices that a memcached server is down and marks it as such.
For the duration of a server being marked as down, requests are failed immediately.
There are no thread leaks.
Memory use does not grown unbounded.
The failure of one memcached server does not affect service to other memcached servers.
The application starts and initializes without error.
The real challenge with failure testing distributed resources is visibility, how can we get a clear view into what is actually happening. Picking the appropriate toolset ahead of time will ensure the job is done properly, picking the wrong tools will simply drag out the process until the proper tools are utilized or the testing is incomplete.
With tcpflow we can monitor packets going over the wire. With it we can watch in real time the (absense of) memcached traffic.
With jconsole we can watch the jvm for thread usage, memory growth and kick off GC.
With jmap we can count object instances should jconsole indicate memory issues.
With iptables we can simulate failed resources.
With a test application, watch and curl we can simulate steady traffic, say perhaps 1 request per memcached server per second. Be able to tail the output/access logs to watch for exceptions and the status of each request. The test appliction will also need custom endpoints that only contain simple get or set calls.
The following chalkboard sketch lays out the relationships between the various tools and components.
The testing environment for this blog was an internal example dropwizard application run locally on a laptop connecting to four memcached servers residing in AWS. Tcpflow and iptables will work fine in AWS and jconsole/jmap will function just fine on the laptop. The application server output all logs to stdout.
To maintain a constant flow of traffic to all four memcached servers we used the ConnectionObserver in spymemcached to execute a stats call to each memcached server each second. This allowed us to easily monitor what communication channels were functional via tcpflow. As necessary we also used watch with curl to simulate steady traffic to a specific test endpoint.
A custom endpoint was added to the app server to get and set a value in memcached. The value that is get/set each time helps us choose which memcached server to manipulate. We run tcpflow locally and use curl to hit the custom endpoint. Whichever memcached server is the target for the get/set operation becomes our guinea pig.
With a simple networking setup, finding the memcached server that serves traffic for the testing key is as simple as running tcpflow on the local server that the app server is running on. For other scenarios such as a mac laptop going over a vpn to the memcached servers, tcpflow will need to be run on each memcached server. Each captured packet/flow is identified by the source_ip.port-dest_id.port, on both sides of the connection. Ie the source-dest prefix will look the same on both the client and remote servers.
In this example the tcp packets for setting and getting the keys originated from 10.10.10.1 and were received on 192.168.1.200. The value being returned from the get operation was sent from server 192.168.1.200 and received on server 10.10.10.1. Whichever side of the connection is using port 11211 is the memcached server.
We've now identified our guinea pig memcached server. To test timeouts we need to simulate the memcached server taking a long time to respond. Never responding is a subset of "long time to respond", so to test we'll drop all packets via iptables. From the perspective of the memcached client drivers, we are going to allow packets to be passed to the local host's networking stack, but we'll drop them either on the local host or the remote host. Similar to the tcpflow tool, we can pick either side of the network connection to manipulate.
Lets verify iptables is indeed interrupting traffic. With the constant stream of stats pings every one second ongoing, run the iptables command and start dropping packets. The flow of responses to the stats calls on the guinea pig server should have stopped while traffic to the other memcached servers continues uninterrupted. Be aware that there may already be rules in place, and running the specified command will add the rule to the end of the chain where it would probably be ineffective. If thats the case you'll need to flush the rules and/or add yours in the appropriate location for the duration of the testing.
For the first test we'll verify the configured 1s timeout works as designed.
Running the specified steps results in spymemcached exceptions like the following.
The length of time until timeout isn't specified in the stack trace, it was collected explicitly in our code to determine the configured 1s timeout was being honored.
Will the application server start up correctly if a memcached server is unavailable? There are a couple different ways we could envision this test failing. If the memcached drivers threw exceptions while being initialized due to lack of connectivity that could break the app server. In addition, an exception could be thrown while pre-initializing values from memcached. This second case is application logic dependent and thus will need to be verified on each application stack (ouch).
This test should be repeated for each memcached server verifying there isn't a single key used during startup that isn't handled properly on failure.
Repeating the test by dropping packets instead of rejecting them reveals interesting behavior. Again recall that our application constantly pings all memcached servers for stats every second as visible heartbeat for us to monitor. When packets are rejected by the memcached server, the drivers immediately ascertain the memcached server is unavailable and change the internal state accordingly. However if the packets are dropped instead, there is a 60s+ period until the remote memcached server is considererd down and a reconnection is queued.
Another interesting result appeared as we constantly hit the custom endpoint after starting the application server with packets being dropped. Before the remote memcached was marked as down, each custom endpoint call timed out at 1s as expected. However, after being marked down each hit to the custom endpoint also timed out after 1s instead of failing fast. Let's test this functionality a little more rigorously as our next test.
Do requests to a downed memcached server fail fast? In particular we are concerned with cases when memcached is a black hole, we don't want 1s timeouts for all calls for the 20min it takes to replace a memcached server. For example, here's a heatmap of a service showing a large portion of requests taking slightly over 1s for a 10min+ period. The period corrosponds with a single memcached server rebooting.
Failure. The memcached.get() calls all timeout instead of failing fast. Digging through the spymemcached docs and code it appears the failure mode we have set is FailureMode.Retry which will force a retry even when a memcached server is down. Let's change Retry to Cancel and test again.
On Step 6 this second time around with FailureMode.Cancel, the custom endpoint stops timing out and fails fast after the memcached server has been marked down.
Now we'll test if there is a thread leak during longer outages. Spymemcached client drivers keep one open connection to each remote memcached server. Requests are sent individually over the wire and are grouped/optimized if possible. Therefore under the hood all requests are inherently asynchronous and spymemcached spins up and handles its own threads as it sees fit. To test for thread leaks we'll need to keep constant traffic, then sever a connection to a remote memcached server, then reconnect, then sever for several iterations. After that we can leave a connection severed for awhile.
To monitor thread usage during the test we'll use jconsole.
The testing we did for this step is probably a bit outside the bounds of what would normally happen. It's not very likely a memcached server would disappear/appear many times, though those actions are the most likely to be the cause of a leak of some kind. One of the more likely scenarios we'll see in the wild is a memcached server being unavailable for 15-30min as a replacement is being spun up.
Our testing showed no thread leaks, the thread count stayed constant throughout the testing.
Testing for memory leaks will follow the same testing routine as the testing for thread leaks with the additional help from jmap. Spoiler alert, there is a memory leak, and it was confirmed via jmap. Jmap can provide us with counts of objects inside the jvm. Excecuting the jmap command multiple times sequentially shows us which objects continue to collect. There are lots of objects, we can use an educated guess (and some hindsight) to just look for objects with memcache in their package structure. There's a pretty long tail for classes with only one instance, no point in examining those when looking for object leaks (grep -v).
jmap -histo <pid> | grep -E 'Latch|memcache' | grep -v " 1 "
The two signs of a memory leak will be the overall heap size in jconsole and the comparison of objects between jmap calls. To be most accurate, both of those should only be measured right after jvm garbage collection.
Repeated iterations of a remote memcached server being down did not result in an overall trend indicative of a memory leak. A remote memcached server being down for a long period of time however does appear to have a memory leak as shown in the following char. Starting a bit before 2:20 until around 3:14 we see an upward trend of memory usage. The drops in memory usage came the next GC after re-enabling the packet flow to the remote memcached server. The cycle is repeated a second time as the packet flow is disrupted around 3:15 until 3:31.
During the testing we were able to track objects being collected with jmap. Here are some sample objects collected while the remote memcached server was unavailable. jmap was run right after GC was triggered to ensure the most accurate results.
Now here's the same set of objects a couple minutes later, again run directly after GC was triggered.
The jconsole graph shows a leak and the jmap data narrows it down to specific spymemcached objects.
Not coincidentally the solution to this problem is the same for fail fast, changing FailureMode.Retry to FailureMode.Cancel.
We've already confirmed that servers are eventually marked as down and after that requests will fail fast. Next we need to determine what that threshold is and if possible how to lengthen or shorten that time. One would expect this value to be configurable, so we'll start guessing at configuration fields and tune them up and down to see which has an effect.
After fiddling with a few params and reading through lots of code we were unable to find any lever that would shorten/lengthen the amount of time it takes the spymemcached drivers to notice the remote memcached server has disappeared inside our test environment. If you've got some understanding or insight into the spymemcached drivers and how servers get marked down please let us know in the comments!
Hopefully you'll agree with me that failure testing is easy once you get a feel for the proper tools. Iptables does an excellent job of quickly and easily simulating a memcached outage while tcpflow allows explicit verification of what is and what is not going over the wire.
For us the change from FailureMode.Retry to FailureMode.Cancel will help limit the disruption a failed memcached server can cause by allowing fail fast behavior.
For next steps we'll be trying these tests out in our qa and production environments, getting us closer to being best buds with Chaos Monkey.
Eric is a staff software engineer at HubSpot.


text:
Q: How to update values in list of dictionaries I want to update the value of a key in dictionary. This is a snippet of a list that contains over 300 dictionaries
chats = [
{'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
{'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
{'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
{'hour': 11, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
{'hour': 10, 'operator': 'joseph_doe', 'duration': [5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 'date': '2019-09-09'}
]

script: I am getting an error on that script. I am looping to know if this dict is already in so that I can update the duration.
chat_list = list()
for chat in chats:
    hour = chat.get('hour')
    operator = chat.get("operator")
    if len(chat_list) == 0:
        chat_list.append(chat)
    else:
        found = False
        for i in chat_list:
            hour2  = chat.get('hour')
            operator2 = chat.get("operator")
            if (hour2 == hour) and (operator == operator2):
                found = True
                #concat both dictionary
                i['duration'] = i.get('duration') + chat.get("duration")
        if found == True:
            found = False
        else:
            chat_list.append(chat)

My expected output is
chat_list = [
{'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
{'hour': 11, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
    {'hour': 10, 'operator': 'joseph_doe', 'duration': [5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 'date': '2019-09-09'}
        ]

or
df = pd.DataFrame(chat_list)
df['duration'] =  df['duration'].apply(lambda x: list(set(x)))

A: To be honest, I didn't tested your algorithm. Instead I took it as a small challenge and I wrote the following algorithm which doesn't need to copy chats in to a new list.
It finds the first occurrence of "similar" chat and concat the duration arrays. Then it deletes the "duplicated" chat. Further explanation in the code itself:
chats = [
    {'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
    {'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
    {'hour': 10, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
    {'hour': 11, 'operator': 'john_doe', 'duration': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28], 'date': '2019-09-09'},
    {'hour': 10, 'operator': 'joseph_doe', 'duration': [5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 'date': '2019-09-09'}
]

index = 0
while index < len(chats) - 1:
    chat = chats[index]

    # detect if there is another "similar" chat in the list (before this one)
    first_index = next(
        i for i, first_chat in enumerate(chats)
        if chat.get('hour') == first_chat.get('hour') and chat.get('operator') == first_chat.get('operator')
    )

    # if the first index found is not this one:
    #   - concat `duration` arrays
    #   - delete this (duplicated) chat
    if index != first_index:
        chats[first_index]['duration'] += chat['duration']
        del chats[index]

    # otherwise continue and increment the index
    else:
        index += 1

print(chats)


text:
The Women's Combined in the 2017 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup involved three events, first a super-combined (downhill and one run of slalom), and then two Alpine combined (a Super-G and one run of slalom).  Downhill champion Ilka Štuhec of Slovenia  won the super-combined and held on to win the season championship. Interestingly, in only her second race in the combined discipline ever, overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin won the final race.

The season was interrupted by the 2017 World Ski Championships, which were held from 6–20 February in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The women's combined was held on 10 February.

At this time, combined races were not included in the season finals, which were held in 2017 in Aspen, Colorado (USA).

Standings

DNF1 = Did Not Finish run 1
DNF2 = Did Not Finish run 2
DNS = Did Not Start
DSQ1 = Disqualified run 1
DSQ2 = Disqualified run 2

See also
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's summary rankings
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's Overall
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's Downhill
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's Super-G
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's Giant Slalom
 2017 Alpine Skiing World Cup – Women's Slalom

References

External links

Women's Combined
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women's combined discipline titles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia