title: Wendigo (comics)

text: A later confrontation between two Canadian meat packing plant employees resulted in one accidentally killing the other, and the perpetrator trying to cover it up by running the body through the meat grinder. This resulted in a mass outbreak of the Wendigo curse, which was greatly exacerbated by the curse being transmitted via bite wounds inflicted by the Wendigos, in a process akin to lycantrophy. An infection of this phenomenon beyond Canada's borders is initially prevented by the mystical limitations of the Wendigo curse. With the uncontrollably of the outbreak, the Great Beast Tanaraq (the "father" of the Wendigo) gains enough power to overthrow his fellows and intends to spread the curse across the entire world. However, the combined efforts of the X-Men, the other Beasts, and Guardian defeat his plan, resulting in the elimination of the curse.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: Spider-Woman, with the help of Captain Marvel and Porcupine, later shuts down a Canadian restaurant that had been secretly serving its customers human flesh in an attempt to instigate another outbreak of Wendigos.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: When Jimmy Hudson appears on Earth-616 following the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, the townspeople mistake him for a Wendigo and shoot him before an actual Wendigo attack occurs. Recovering from the gunshot wound, Hudson fights the Wendigo.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: Roxxon later goes on an archaeological expedition to find a Wendigo. When a Wendigo attacks a scientist named Ella Sterling, she is saved by Weapon H. It was revealed that Roxxon executive Mr. Banks had a miner named Philips Waggoner eat Wendigo meat at the site where the Avingnon Party resided during a blizzard. The result of this turned Waggoner into an Ur-Wendigo which is more powerful than any normal Wendigo and can grow larger when it ate flesh. The Ur-Wendigo caught up to Weapon H and tried to eat him whole only for Doctor Strange to appear. As the Ur-Wendigo is immune to enchantments, Weapon H borrowed Doctor Strange's Ax of Angarruumus and allowed himself to be eaten by the Ur-Wendigo in order to kill it from within.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: The Wendigo possesses a variety of superhuman physical abilities as a result of transformation by an ancient mystical curse. The curse causes anyone that ingests the flesh of another human, while within the Canadian wilderness, to transform into the Wendigo.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: The Wendigo possesses superhuman strength of an unknown limit. It is known that the Wendigo possesses sufficient strength to be able to go head-on against the Hulk.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: Aside from its vast strength, the tissues of the Wendigo's body are considerably stronger than those of a normal human, providing it with superhuman durability. A Wendigo's body can resist high caliber machine gun rounds without sustaining injury. If a Wendigo is injured, it can recover from the physical trauma with tremendous speed and efficiency, giving rise to the quote "strike him down and he shall only rise again". The dense fur covering the Wendigo's body grants it immunity to the harsh conditions of the extreme cold weather common in the areas in which the Wendigo has appeared. The Wendigo can be rendered unconscious by sufficient force, such as severe physical injury and trauma, but it has even been able to regenerate from being completely disemboweled. It has even survived its heart being ripped from its chest. However, consumption of a removed heart will confer all powers and even the form of the Wendigo on whoever consumes it. It is not known what effect psionic attacks would have on or against a Wendigo.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: Despite the Wendigo's great size, it can run at speeds greater than that of an Olympic level athlete. The enhanced musculature of the Wendigo generates less lactic acid than the muscles of a human being, granting it superhuman levels of stamina.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: The Wendigo's fingers and toes are tipped with razor sharp, retractable claws that are capable of piercing even the Hulk's skin, a feat usually reserved for adamantium, due to a combination of the toughness of the claws and the Wendigo's massive physical strength.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: Even though each Wendigo was once a normal human, in most cases very little is left of the person it once was. It possesses little intelligence and can be considered non-sentient, and with the exception of brief and rare instances, is unable to remember things about its former life. It also lacks the ability to speak anything other than its own name, which it often will yell and repeat during its attacks. Sorcerers, such as Mauvais and Lorenzo, have been able to avoid this aspect of the curse, using magic to gain the power of the Wendigo while keeping their intelligence and their power of speech.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: In "The Amazing Spider-Man" #277, a creature called Wendigo appears. This Wendigo seemed to be a ghost-like being whose very presence in New York caused a blizzard to strike. Though the creature only makes its appearance at the end of the comic, the story makes it obvious that it is stalking Spider-Man the entire time he was chasing a group of kidnappers. This Wendigo seemed to be able to change size and become invisible; it was also reptilian in appearance and pale green in color.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: In "Spider-Man" issues #8–12 (the "Perceptions" story arc), a Wendigo-like creature is blamed in the deaths of several children near Hope, British Columbia and terrorizing the town. Spider-Man's alter ego, Peter Parker, is sent to take pictures during the media frenzy that follows. Wolverine, having previous experience with Wendigos and having concern for the creature's welfare, comes to the town and contacts Peter Parker directly, seeking Spider-Man's assistance. Together, Spider-Man and Wolverine are able to determine the real cause of death among the children. The Wendigo in "Perceptions" has an appearance very similar to other incarnations of the Wendigo, yet seems to be a different manifestation. For example, this version of the Wendigo is more vulnerable to harm than those that battled the Hulk, as it suffers a significant wound from a hunter's bullet and sustains injury when struck by a car. Additionally, it does not appear very aggressive, unless provoked, nor is it interested in consuming human flesh, feeding primarily on deer. In fact, when the Wendigo comes across the corpse of a child, the creature attempts to return the body to town instead of consuming it.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: In the Earth X continuity, an army of Wendigos is formed due to the curse afflicting Jamie Madrox after he chooses to eat one of his own duplicated bodies in response to the strict rationing of food that came with the declining animal population.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: The Wendigo makes another appearance in the MC2 imprint of Marvel Comics, an alternate future featuring, among others, the children of existing Marvel superheroes. In an issue of "Wild Thing", the Hulk, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, and Wolverine's daughter Wild Thing encounter a large number of Wendigos, which turn out to be a lost Cub Scout troop that had eaten its scoutmaster. Doctor Strange is able to remove the curse from the children and remove their memory of the events.


title: Wendigo (comics)

text: In Warp World, a copy of the Marvel Universe which was folded in half during the "Infinity Wars" storyline, Wendigo was fused with Tigra, creating Wentigra. Greer Baptise was a detective who was mortally wounded by a gunshot and was retrieved by a cult known as the Cat People. In order for her to survive, they offered her to eat human meat, which cursed her into becoming Wentigra. She was then unwillingly cured by Weapon Hex (a fusion of X-23 and the Scarlet Witch).


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: The Data Universal Numbering System, abbreviated as DUNS or D-U-N-S, is a proprietary system developed and managed by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) that assigns a unique numeric identifier, referred to as a "DUNS number" to a single business entity. It was introduced in 1963 to support D&B's credit reporting practice. It is standard worldwide. DUNS users include the European Commission, the United Nations, the United States government, and Apple. More than 50 global industry and trade associations recognize, recommend, or require DUNS. The DUNS database contains over 300 million entries for businesses throughout the world.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: The DUNS number is a nine-digit number, issued by D&B, assigned to each business location in the D&B database, having a unique, separate, and distinct operation for the purpose of identifying them. The DUNS number is random, and the digits have no apparent significance. Until approximately December 2006, the DUNS number contained a mod-10 check digit to support error detection. Discontinuing the check digit increased the inventory of available DUNS numbers by 800 million. As of 25 February 2017, the website shows that there is no charge to get a DUNS number, and the time to create the number is 24 to 48 hours. When obtaining a DUNS number online, the wait is usually 30 business days, but assignment of a number can be immediate for UK businesses who provide their company registration number. When purchasing the "Small Business Starter" from Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp the wait time reduces to 5 business days or less.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: Unlike national employer identification numbers, a DUNS number may be issued to any business worldwide. Certain U.S. government agencies require that a vendor have a DUNS number as well as a U.S. Employer Identification Number (EIN). Other agencies, such as some United Nations offices and Australian government agencies, require certain businesses to have a DUNS number.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a United States federal agency, announced in the 27 June, 2003 issue of the Federal Register that a DUNS number would be required for all grant applicants for new or renewal awards submitted on or after 1 October, 2003. The DUNS number is a supplement to other identifiers, such as the EIN, and is required whether the application is made electronically or on paper.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: A DUNS number is sometimes formatted with embedded dashes to promote readability, such as "15-048-3782". Modern usage typically omits dashes, and shows the number as in the form "150483782". The dashes are not part of D&B's official definition of the DUNS number.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: Businesses may choose to append four extra alphanumeric characters to their DUNS number. This is called a DUNS+4 number. The suffix is for the use of the business (for example, to identify different electronic funds transfer accounts). It has no significance otherwise and is not tracked by Dun & Bradstreet.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: Numerous other business-numbering systems exist independent of DUNS—for example, the International Suppliers Network system. However, few, if any, register as many international businesses as with DUNS.


title: Data Universal Numbering System

text: Prior to DUNS numbers, the U.S. government used another coding system known as ACASS. The ACASS number was abolished on 5 October, 2005, when a modernized platform replaced the ACASS system. The ACASS system now uses the DUNS number, rather than the former ACASS number.


title: Training, validation, and test data sets

text: In machine learning, a common task is the study and construction of algorithms that can learn from and make predictions on data. Such algorithms function by making data-driven predictions or decisions, through building a mathematical model from input data. These input data used to build the model are usually divided in multiple data sets. In particular, three data sets are commonly used in different stages of the creation of the model: training, validation and test sets.


text: The model is initially fit on a training data set, which is a set of examples used to fit the parameters (e.g. weights of connections between neurons in artificial neural networks) of the model. The model (e.g. a naive Bayes classifier) is trained on the training data set using a supervised learning method, for example using optimization methods such as gradient descent or stochastic gradient descent. In practice, the training data set often consists of pairs of an input vector (or scalar) and the corresponding output vector (or scalar), where the answer key is commonly denoted as the "target" (or "label"). The current model is run with the training data set and produces a result, which is then compared with the "target", for each input vector in the training data set. Based on the result of the comparison and the specific learning algorithm being used, the parameters of the model are adjusted. The model fitting can include both variable selection and parameter estimation.


text: Successively, the fitted model is used to predict the responses for the observations in a second data set called the validation data set. The validation data set provides an unbiased evaluation of a model fit on the training data set while tuning the model's hyperparameters (e.g. the number of hidden units—layers and layer widths—in a neural network). Validation datasets can be used for regularization by early stopping (stopping training when the error on the validation data set increases, as this is a sign of over-fitting to the training data set).


text: This simple procedure is complicated in practice by the fact that the validation dataset's error may fluctuate during training, producing multiple local minima. This complication has led to the creation of many ad-hoc rules for deciding when over-fitting has truly begun.


text: Finally, the test data set is a data set used to provide an unbiased evaluation of a "final" model fit on the training data set. If the data in the test data set has never been used in training (for example in cross-validation), the test data set is also called a holdout data set. The term "validation set" is sometimes used instead of "test set" in some literature (e.g., if the original data set was partitioned into only two subsets, the test set might be referred to as the validation set).


text: Deciding the sizes and strategies for data set division in training, test and validation sets is very dependent on the problem and data available.


text: A training data set is a data set of examples used during the learning process and is used to fit the parameters (e.g., weights) of, for example, a classifier.


text: For classification tasks, a supervised learning algorithm looks at the training data set to determine, or learn, the optimal combinations of variables that will generate a good predictive model. The goal is to produce a trained (fitted) model that generalizes well to new, unknown data. The fitted model is evaluated using “new” examples from the held-out datasets (validation and test datasets) to estimate the model’s accuracy in classifying new data. To reduce the risk of issues such as over-fitting, the examples in the validation and test datasets should not be used to train the model.


text: Most approaches that search through training data for empirical relationships tend to overfit the data, meaning that they can identify and exploit apparent relationships in the training data that do not hold in general.


text: A validation data set is a data-set of examples used to tune the hyperparameters (i.e. the architecture) of a classifier. It is sometimes also called the development set or the "dev set". An example of a hyperparameter for artificial neural networks includes the number of hidden units in each layer. It, as well as the testing set (as mentioned below), should follow the same probability distribution as the training data set.


text: In order to avoid overfitting, when any classification parameter needs to be adjusted, it is necessary to have a validation data set in addition to the training and test datasets. For example, if the most suitable classifier for the problem is sought, the training data set is used to train the different candidate classifiers, the validation data set is used to compare their performances and decide which one to take and, finally, the test data set is used to obtain the performance characteristics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F-measure, and so on. The validation data set functions as a hybrid: it is training data used for testing, but neither as part of the low-level training nor as part of the final testing.


text: The basic process of using a validation data set for model selection (as part of training data set, validation data set, and test data set) is:


text: An application of this process is in early stopping, where the candidate models are successive iterations of the same network, and training stops when the error on the validation set grows, choosing the previous model (the one with minimum error).


text: A test data set is a data set that is independent of the training data set, but that follows the same probability distribution as the training data set. If a model fit to the training data set also fits the test data set well, minimal overfitting has taken place (see figure below). A better fitting of the training data set as opposed to the test data set usually points to over-fitting.


text: A test set is therefore a set of examples used only to assess the performance (i.e. generalization) of a fully specified classifier. To do this, the final model is used to predict classifications of examples in the test set. Those predictions are compared to the examples' true classifications to assess the model's accuracy.


text: In a scenario where both validation and test datasets are used, the test data set is typically used to assess the final model that is selected during the validation process. In the case where the original data set is partitioned into two subsets (training and test datasets), the test data set might assess the model only once (e.g., in the holdout method). Note that some sources advise against such a method. However, when using a method such as cross-validation, two partitions can be sufficient and effective since results are averaged after repeated rounds of model training and testing to help reduce bias and variability.


text: Testing is trying something to find out about it ("To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment" according to the Collaborative International Dictionary of English) and


text: to validate is to prove that something is valid ("To confirm; to render valid" Collaborative International Dictionary of English). With this perspective, the most common use of the terms test set and validation set is the one here described. However, in both industry and academia, they are sometimes used interchanged, by considering that the internal process is testing different models to improve (test set as a development set) and the final model is the one that needs to be validated before real use with an unseen data (validation set). "The literature on machine learning often reverses the meaning of 'validation' and 'test' sets. This is the most blatant example of the terminological confusion that pervades artificial intelligence research. Nevertheless, the important concept that must be kept is that the final set, whether called test or validation, should only be used in the final experiment.


text: In order to get more stable results and use all valuable data for training, a data set can be repeatedly split into several training and a validation datasets. This is known as cross-validation. To validate the model performance, an additional test data set held out from cross-validation is normally used.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: "Devil May Cry" is a series of video games set in the present, created by Hideki Kamiya, a video-game designer and developed by his employer Capcom and Clover Studio. The series' success has led to comic books, novelizations, an anime series, guides, collectibles and a variety of action figures. The first game focuses on devil hunter Dante's mission to avenge the death of his mother, Eva, by exterminating demons. In the process he encounters his long-lost twin brother, Vergil, with whom he has a dysfunctional relationship. As the story progresses, Dante encounter his father's nemesis, a demon emperor, Mundus, who is found to be responsible for the murder of Dante's mother.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Years after the first game, Capcom developed new "Devil May Cry" games with new characters. In "Devil May Cry 2", an older Dante aids a woman named Lucia in freeing a town from the demons. In "", a younger Dante awakens his demonic powers when confronting his brother and matures upon seeing Lady, a woman struggling to redeem her family. "Devil May Cry 4" and "Devil May Cry 5" focus on a young demon hunter named Nero who is related to Dante, as well as V, a young man from "5" who wishes somebody would defeat the demon king Urizen. Ninja Theory also created a reboot titled "" that follows an alternate version of Dante as he learns of his heritage while confronting demons controlling Limbo.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Nero and several characters in "Devil May Cry 2" and the later games were conceived by several staff members, most notably Bingo Morihashi with designers Daigo Ikeno and Tatsuya Yoshikawa, taking over. While each game changes the cast's designs, the RE Engine was used for "Devil May Cry 5" to give them a more realistic look. Dante's characterization and role in the games was well received by game journalists with the recurring cast being praised since "Devil May Cry 3" because of the handling of the narrative.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Series creator Hideki Kamiya said that the title character from the manga series "Cobra", by Buichi Terasawa, was the basis for Dante. Dante wears a red cloak to make the character's actions more eye-catching; red is the traditional Japanese color for a hero. The game is very loosely based on the Italian poem the "Divine Comedy" by its use of allusions, including the game's protagonist Dante (named after Dante Alighieri) and other characters like Vergil (Virgil) and Trish (Beatrice Portinari). Dante and Lucia dressed in Diesel fashions appealed to the developers.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Shortly after the release of "Devil May Cry 2", Hideaki Itsuno decided Capcom's staff should develop a new video game, "". Morihashi was once again employed, but this time took on a bigger role during the game's development. As he had no experience planning, he was given the role of writing the scenario. The game's main character, Dante, was given a different characterization than in the first "Devil May Cry" because his original creator, Hideki Kamiya, was not going to be involved with the project. While feeling his own take on the character did not equal the popularity of the original one, Bingo Morihashi enjoyed Dante's role in the game. Morihashi felt challenged creating the character of Vergil since he had no prior design experience yet he had to come up with an entire new one for the artists. Dante and Vergi's Devil Trigger forms were designed by Kazuma Kaneko of Atlus. The Capcom staff was impressed with Kaneko's work, and Daigo Ikeno felt that it was not difficult to model.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: "Devil May Cry 4" producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi said before the game's release that he wanted to make Dante appear more powerful than the other protagonist, Nero, to contrast the strength of a "veteran" with that of a "rookie". The series' storyline also required Dante to demonstrate his power after the first game and its prequel, "Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening". Kobayashi said, "When creating a sequel, you don't want to make a character weak again from the start for no good reason. Everyone wanted to see Dante be just as powerful as they remembered him," emphasizing that playing as Dante without his previous abilities would otherwise feel "very strange". Both main characters' capabilities were part of the series' early development.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Several weapons in the series are character-specific. Character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa said, "When working on this sort of game, the design doesn't come from just one person, it is necessary to take the history of the series and the feelings of the fans into consideration." Before designing the characters in "Devil May Cry 4", Yoshikawa consulted staff members who had previously worked on the series to familiarize himself with previous elements. The characters were designed to emphasize their motion, and some demonic antagonists in "Devil May Cry 4" resemble angels. These characters were designed to be attractive, while providing a contrast to other demons in the game. Yoshikawa noted that several main characters were somewhat difficult to design, but Nero was one of the greatest challenges of his career since the character would have to be accepted by the public and fit in the series' universe.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: With regard to "Devil May Cry 5", because the game's narrative was focused on Dante, Nero and V, Lady and Trish could not appear as playable characters again. In addition, Capcom's Matt Walker claimed Vergil would not be a playable character in the game, leaving "a bitter taste" in fans mouths. Itsuno explained the development team aimed for a "photo-realistic" graphics style. The returning characters' designs involved slight alterations to their "Devil May Cry 4" iterations to fit their personalities. However, while few of the ideas for Dante and Nero were scrapped, V underwent nearly twenty redesigns. The new designs were also inspired by Carol Christian Poell as well as Daniel Craig and Benedict Cumberbatch.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Capcom used an older incarnation of Nero, so he would be "at the top of his game in body and mind". Because the game's graphics are meant to be as realistic as possible, each character is modeled after an actor. The staff wanted to generate a major emotional scene when Vergil reappears in the climax confronting his brother. As a result, Nero stops the brothers' feud and awakens his demonic powers to face his father. Itsuno said that Dante has a more mature personality and still wishes to protect humanity and honor the legacy of his father, Sparda.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Dante, the series' primary protagonist, is a mercenary specializing in the paranormal and the main playable character in the first three "Devil May Cry" games. He is one of the twin sons of Sparda, a demon knight who sided with humanity and drove back an invasion of the human world by demons about 2,000 years before the series' events. The character was voiced by Drew Coombs in the original "Devil May Cry" and Matthew Kaminsky in "Devil May Cry 2". Reuben Langdon voiced Dante in all subsequent appearances. Dante's Japanese voice is provided by Toshiyuki Morikawa.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Nero is the secondary protagonist of the franchise, introduced in "Devil May Cry 4". An orphan adopted by the Sparda-worshipping Order of the Sword, Nero grew up to become a Holy Knight of the Order. He does not get along well with others and prefers to work alone, so he is usually given the Order's "special assignments". He is the son of Vergil, which also makes him the nephew of Dante and the grandson of Sparda. The character is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch in English, and by Kaito Ishikawa in the Japanese versions of "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition". Nero returns as one of the primary protagonists in "Devil May Cry 5".


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Lucia, along with Dante, is one of the two protagonists in "Devil May Cry 2". An agile fighter, she uses two ornately carved curved daggers. Like Dante, she can Devil Trigger (transform into a "harpy", a birdlike demon of light). Character designer Daigo Ikeno stated that the team aimed for a contrast between Lucia and Trish, making them look as though they were from different races. Lucia is a member of Protectorate, a clan of guardians in the Vie de Marli with the blood of devils. She invites Dante to her island so her adoptive mother, Matier, can ask him to help them defeat Arius (a man who has turned their land into a devils' paradise). Dante accepts, and he and Lucia begin their quests. The player later learns that Lucia is actually Chi, a devil bred by Arius but abandoned as defective. When she reaches Arius, Dante has already defeated him and rides his motorcycle to the demon world to stop an ancient demon. After Dante leaves, Arius (now a monster) rises from the ruins and attacks Lucia; she defeats him, and awaits Dante's return. Lucia is voiced by Françoise Gralewski.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: V is one of the protagonists of "Devil May Cry 5", a mysterious figure who hires Dante to come with him to Red Grave City to subdue Urizen. He is ultimately revealed to be the discarded humanity of Vergil seeking to merge back with Urizen to their original form. In battle, V uses three demon familiars created from trace memories of Nelo Angelo to weaken his opponents so he can land the deathblow. Following Vergil's restoration, now fully independent beings, the hawk-like Griffon leads the panther-like Shadow and the golem Nightmare to attack Dante of their own free will, and all three die fighting him. V is motion captured by Owen Hamze and voiced by Brian Hanford in English, and is voiced by Kōki Uchiyama in the Japanese version.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Dante's older identical twin brother, Vergil embraces his demonic side and is obsessed with gaining power. He is the secondary antagonist-turned-antihero in "Devil May Cry 3" and a playable character in the game's special edition, ending up as Mundus's servant Nelo Angelo in the first "Devil May Cry " game. While appearing in "Devil May Cry 4" and playable in its special edition to hint at his relation to Nero, fragments of Nelo Angelo's form were used as the basis for the Angelo-type demons developed by Agnus for Sanctus's use. Vergil returns in "Devil May Cry 5" where he is revealed to be Nero's father while stealing the Yamato back for his use. Later, Dante's and Vergil's rivalry is a friendly one. Vergil also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting game, "Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3". In English, Vergil is voiced by Daniel Southworth; Nelo Angelo is voiced by David Kelley in "Devil May Cry". In Japanese, he is voiced by Hiroaki Hirata.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Mundus is the Emperor of the Underworld and the overarching antagonist of the series, starting with his role as the main antagonist of the original "Devil May Cry". He is portrayed as a semi-amorphous creature with three orb-like eyes who takes the form of a white-skinned seraph with a third eye on his forehead and a scar on his chest. Millennia ago, Mundus led the demons under his command in a long and brutal war with humanity, until he was betrayed and defeated by the strongest of his knights, Sparda, who sealed his powers and imprisoned him in his own realm. After Sparda's death due to the loss of his immortality, Mundus took revenge by sending his minions to murder Dante's mother, Eva, and seemingly killing his brother Vergil as well. In the aftermath of "Devil May Cry 3", Mundus captured Vergil when he challenged him and turned the young man into the first of the Angelo demons. As the primary antagonist in "Devil May Cry", Mundus is shown to have spent centuries posing as a statue on the forbidding Mallet Island, steadily corrupting the inhabitants and using his powers to remake the island in his own image. He then crafts a demon named Trish, making her look identical to Eva, and sending her to hire Dante to kill him so he can be destroyed. Mundus carefully monitored Dante's progress throughout the island, watching as he defeated his servants one by one and even stepping in to personally murder his servant Griffon when he begs Mundus for more power. Finally, when even Trish proved unable to stop Dante, Mundus tried to strike him down with his magic, but Trish took the attack instead, leaving her close to death. Dante's anger transformed him into the form of his father Sparda, and he defeated Mundus in personal combat. Despite this, Mundus crossed over, and tried to crush Dante with his decomposing body. Trish then combined her own magic with Dante's weapons, allowing him to seal Mundus' powers once again. Before he was banished back to his realm, Mundus vowed to one day take his revenge on Dante and conquer all of the human world.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: A statue of Mundus can be seen briefly in "Devil May Cry 2". He is also referenced in "Devil May Cry 5" as having eaten the fruit of the Qliphoth to become ruler of the Underworld. In Dante's storyline in the PlayStation 2 version of "Viewtiful Joe", he possesses Captain Blue to take revenge on Dante and Trish. Mundus also appears in the second "Devil May Cry" novel in a parallel universe, where he is confronted by Dante and Nelo Angelo's forces. An alternate version of Mundus appears as the main antagonist of "DmC: Devil May Cry", this time portrayed as a powerful demon in human form who secretly rules over humanity.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Arius, the primary antagonist in "Devil May Cry 2", is an insane, wealthy businessman who owns an international company, Uroboros. He wants to find the legendary Arcana, artifacts which would allow him to raise Argosax from the demonic realm and use his power to control the world. Human at the beginning of the game, Arius has access to powerful magic (which enables him to fight demon hunters like Dante) and can create his own demons. Near the end of the game, in Lucia's scenario, Arius survives his battle with Dante. Infused with the power of Argosax, he attacks Lucia (first as a demonic version of himself). As he begins to lose, he mutates into a giant creature.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Argosax the Chaos was a cruel demonic deity who once rivaled Mundus and was the final antagonist of "Devil May Cry 2". Like his sovereign, Argosax was imprisoned in the void of the Underworld by Sparda when the rebellious knight came to the aide of the clan of Dumary Island. Using the Arcanas—sacred relics used to exorcise Argosax centuries prior—Arius intended to absorb the demon's power to achieve apotheosis. Instead, as Dante had switched the Medaglia coin with his own, the ritual was incomplete and caused Arius to become possessed upon dying.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Despite its faulty execution, the ritual was sufficient enough to create a portal to the devil's prison—enough to enable Argosax to escape if given time. Seeking to put an end to this scheme, Dante elects to enter the gateway and face the demon deity like his father before him. When he first appears, his native form—the Despair Embodied, a fiery horned hermaphrodite with angelic wings—is gestating inside of a chrysalis composed of the reanimated corpses of assorted bosses from games "1" and "2". He's capable of channeling their power while in this form.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Emerging from the destroyed mass after a lengthy battle, the Despair Embodied challenges Dante. It is able to use energy and projectile attacks with its wings as well as teleport and shapeshift its arms into swords in its male form, and whips in its female form, as its main weapons. After another long confrontation, the demon's wings shatter from exhaustion and Dante finally destroys the disgraced lord with a lighting-infused gunshot from Ivory. However, with the portal having sealed behind him during their battle, Dante was now trapped in the demonic realm.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: is the main antagonist in "Devil May Cry 3", which takes place before the events of the first "Devil May Cry" game, and the estranged father of Lady. In the game, he is a scholar in the demonology and the supernatural who sought to break the seal Sparda made to prevent Temen-ni-gru tower from serving as a Hell Gate. Arkham also desired to become a demon. A failed attempt by sacrificing his wife Kalina Ann resulted in the left side of his face being scarred but gave him some power. Arkham tricks Vergil into helping him while assuming the guise of the lunatic to lead Dante through Temen-ni-gru. He plays the brothers against each other along with exploiting Lady's attempts to avenge her mother, to bring all the factors of unsealing Temen-ni-gru into place. Arkham then travels through the completed gate to retrieves the Force Edge, combining its power with the restored halves of Eva's amulet to absorb Sparda's power. Though he becomes a demon resembling Sparda, Arkham's body is unable to compensate for the power as he mutates into an amorphous abomination that Dante and Vergil defeat together. Arkham is reverted to his original state as he ends up back in the human world where Lady kills him.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: The character, in his normal and Jester forms, is voiced and motion-captured by Adam D Clark. Arkham's name was intended to be Hyne (pronounced "Hai-neh"), but Reuben Langdon (who voices Dante) thought it would be inappropriate in English and convinced Capcom to change it. Jester's name was intended to be "Joker". One of the key themes of "Devil May Cry 3" is familial conflict. Itsuno said he did not like the idea of Lady killing Arkham, as he believed a child should never kill their parent. Morihashi wanted this scene in the final product, along with Dante defeating Vergil, as themes of the game. To balance this, Morihashi wrote a scene leading up to Arkham's death, where Lady said that Arkham was her responsibility.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Sanctus is the primary antagonist in "Devil May Cry 4". The proclaimed Vicar of Sparda and general of the Holy Knights, he is regarded as one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the Order of the Sword. Sanctus was apparently killed by Dante at the beginning of the game, but in reality, Sanctus survived as he had himself infused with demonic essence in an ascension ceremony. Sanctus originally planned to use Dante to give life to the Savior, a colossus in Sparda's image housing collected demon essence. But he decides to use Nero after his righthand, Angus, revealed the truth of the Order's actions. Sanctus takes matters into his own hands by having Agnus kidnap Kyrie to have the Savior absorb her so it can assimilate Nero. Sanctus than uses the Yamato to open the artificial Hellgates before merging into Savior to commence his plan to wipe out all demons and rule the world while projecting himself through an animated suit of armor. Dante manages to sabotage Sanctus's scheme before freeing Nero to rescue Kyrie while defeating a mental construct of Sanctus, Nero. He completely destroys him by using the Devil Bringer on the Savior. The character is voiced by Liam O'Brien in English with O'Brien also doing the motion capture for Sanctus, and Ikuya Sawaki in the Japanese version of "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition". Yoshikawa designed him to become intimidating across the storyline.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Agnus is the Order of Sparda's chief technology researcher and alchemist in "Devil May Cry 4", developing demon-killing weapons for the Knights. An introverted workaholic with a habit of stuttering when stressed, Agnus rarely appears outside his office and very few in the cult know about him. It is later learned that he has been experimenting with the broken Yamato and created demon-based weapons like the Angelos, even turning himself into the insect-like Agnus Angelo before being killed by Dante when he attempts to keep him from the Yamato. He is indirectly mentioned with contempt by his surviving daughter Nico in "Devil May Cry 5". The character is voiced by T. J. Storm in English, and Yūya Uchida in Japanese version of "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition".


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Urizen, the primary antagonist in "Devil May Cry 5", is the demonic half of Vergil that came into being when Vergil used the Yamato to purge his humanity to become a full Demon. Urizen proceeds to plant a Qliphoth Tree in Red Grave City so he can acquire its fruit to become the undisputed ruler of the Underworld, only to be defeated by Dante and absorbed by his other half V. Urizen is voiced by Daniel Southworth in the English version and Shunsuke Sakuya in the Japanese version. Urizen was meant to remind players of Mundus, the original Demon King from the 2001 "Devil May Cry" game. Itsuno said, "Urizen is definitely the strongest enemy of the entire "Devil May Cry" saga ... the most powerful. You've seen it: every time he appears, he sits on his throne and, maybe sometimes, he moves a little, but that's it. We want to make people understand how a fight against him can be completely crazy."


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Trish is a demon created by Mundus who strangely resembles Dante's mother, Eva. She has enhanced strength and agility, accelerated healing and the ability to use lightning. In English, Trish is voiced by Sarah Lafleur in "Devil May Cry", and "", Danielle Burgio in "Devil May Cry 4" and "Marvel vs. Capcom 3", Wendee Lee in "Devil May Cry 5", and Luci Christian in "The Animated Series". In Japanese, she is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in "The Animated Series", "Marvel vs. Capcom 3", and "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition".


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Lady is a freelance demon hunter. A human, she is skilled in acrobatics and armed close quarters combat. Lady has black hair, eyes of different colors and a signature weapon, the Kalina-Ann (a customized missile launcher, similar to MANPADS). When fighting, she uses a CZ75 pistol with a compensator and a VZ61 submachine gun with a bayonet attached to it. She was named Mary by her father, Arkham, but she renounced the name when he murdered her mother in a ritual to obtain demonic power, an act which drove Mary to psychosis and obsessive vengeance. Lady first appears in "Devil May Cry 3", when she refuses to identify herself to Dante; he replies, "Whatever, lady!" Lady formalizes her name in the game's denouement when she shoots Arkham, telling him that "Mary" is dead. Although she is not a villain, her role in "Devil May Cry 3" is that of an antagonist, as she seeks to deter Dante and even fights him twice before finally coming to terms with him.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Sparda is the demonic knight who rebelled for humanity's sake 2,000 years before the events of Vergil's "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition". He defeated many demons and their emperor, Mundus, before sealing the gateway between the demonic and human worlds. Sparda's heroism made him legendary in the human world, and he is known as "the Legendary Dark Knight".


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: In "Devil May Cry" and its successors, Sparda left his power in his sword (known as the Force Edge or the Sparda) in the demonic realm. ("Sparda" is the Japanese inflection for "spada", a Latin word for "sword".) To seal the gateway between the worlds Sparda sacrificed his blood and that of a mortal priestess, using two complementary amulets as a key which he brought into the human world. To work, the amulets must be joined. Near the end of his life Sparda took a human wife (Eva) and fathered twin sons (Dante and Vergil). He gave the amulets to Eva, who passed them on to their sons. Sparda also gave his sons enchanted swords with opposing powers: Dante's broadsword Rebellion that allows the user to absorb anything, and Vergil's katana Yamato that can split one's being or open a link to the Demon World. It is unknown how Sparda died, and Dante believed that there was a lot of confusion surrounding his father and his legacy.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Eva is Sparda's human wife and the mother of Dante and Vergil, giving her sons each half of Sparda's amulet as a birthday gift. Eva was murdered in her home in Red Grave City by demons sent by Mundus. She safely hid Dante away, but was killed while she was looking for Vergil. Mundus later created Trish with Eva's appearance in a failed attempt to lure Dante to his death. In "Devil May Cry 5", like Trish, Eva is voiced by Wendee Lee in English and Atsuko Tanaka in Japanese.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: First appearing in "The Animated Series", Patty is a young girl, descended from a powerful sorcerer who imprisoned the demon known as Abigail. After Dante protects her from some demons, she lives with him at Devil May Cry until Abigail is destroyed, after which she is reunited with her birth mother. Patty makes a voice-only cameo appearance in "Devil May Cry 5", repeatedly attempting to invite Dante to her 18th birthday party. In English, Patty is voiced by Hilary Haag in "The Animated Series" and Haviland Stillwell in "Devil May Cry 5". In Japanese, she is voiced by Misato Fukuen in the anime and Yū Shimamura in "Devil May Cry 5".


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: First appearing in "The Animated Series", Morrison is Dante's closest friend and broker. He finds Dante jobs, acts as a handyman to keep Devil May Cry functioning, and offers him advice on how to be a better person. Morrison returns in "Devil May Cry 5", having been heavily redesigned from his previous appearance. Following the game's events, Morrison becomes the new owner of the Devil May Cry office. In English, Morrison is voiced by Rob Mungle in "The Animated Series" and Joey Camen in "Devil May Cry 5". In Japanese, he is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Matier, a supporting character in "Devil May Cry 2", is an old woman and (like Lucia) part of the Protectorate clan. When she was younger, she and her clan fought the demons with Sparda. Matier is cheerful and optimistic, certain of Dante's eventual victory. She guides Lucia to reunite the Arcanas (mystical relics) and lure Dante (whom she calls "Son of Sparda") to their island. Although it is first claimed that Matier is Lucia's mother, it is later revealed that Lucia was created by Arius (who planned to dispose of her when Matier found and raised her). The character is voiced by Flo DiRe.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Credo, captain of hundreds of Holy Knights, is a strict, just man who is admired for his prowess on the battlefield. Kyrie's older brother, he sees Nero as family, but finds him unreliable. He was designed with key motifs representing his job, which Yoshikawa found fun to create. He orders Nero to capture Dante for Sanctus' "assassination", but is part of Sanctus' plan to bring about the Order's "Savior". Credo tries to arrest Nero after he learns about the latter's demonic power, and transforms into a winged creature he believes is angelic. When Kyrie is kidnapped to be used by the Order for Sanctus's grand plan, Credo loses his faith in the Order for using his sister as a tool and tries to help Nero save her. He is mortally wounded by Sanctus while trying to save Nero from capture, and Nero is absorbed into the Savior. Dying, Credo asks Dante to save Nero and Kyrie as his body dissipates into light. He is voiced by TJ Rotolo in English, and Rikiya Koyama in the Japanese version of "Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition". His devil form was meant to contrast Nero's and Dante's due to how he looks like a heroic person when he still looks like a demon.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Kyrie is a supporting character introduced in "Devil May Cry 4". She was born and raised in Fortuna and works as a singer for the Order of the Sword. She is Credo's sister, and Nero's childhood friend and love interest. After being misled into thinking that Nero is evil, Kyrie was held hostage by Agnus under orders of Sanctus to lure Nero to the Savior. He arrives too late however, as she had already fused with the Savior. Her fusion causes Credo to defect from the Order after recognizing Santus' evil scheme. When Dante frees Nero from captivity in the Savior, Nero can free Kyrie as she begins her new life with him. She makes two off-screen cameos in "Devil May Cry 5", the first when Nero lost the Devil Bringer and the second in renewing his resolve to end the animosity between Dante and Vergil. The character is voiced by Stephanie Sheh in the English versions and Saori Hayami in the Japanese versions, and motion-captured by Laura Napoli. Itsuno was responsible for most of Kyrie's elements. She was envisioned as an "ordinary, cute heroine" who had a big impact on Nero despite not being a fighter. Her role was to motivate Nero and the player as the story progresses.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: Nicoletta Goldstein, nicknamed Nico, is a weapons designer introduced in "Devil May Cry 5" who acts as Nero's tech support. She is the daughter of Agnus, whom she speaks of with great disdain, and the granddaughter of Nell Goldstein, the gunsmith proprietor of ".45 Caliber Works" who made Dante's signature handguns, "Ebony & Ivory". She considers her weapons works of art, having developed Nero's Devil Breaker prosthetic arms. Nico is motion-captured and voiced by Faye Kingslee in English, and is voiced by Lynn in Japanese. Nico was created to be a contrasting heroine to Nero's girlfriend, Kyrie; Nico is more used to fighting.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: When "Devil May Cry" was released Dante's personality was praised, with IGN describing the character as a "maverick head-hunter", "believable" and "awesome". His confident, fearless attitude has made him popular; the character ranked seventh on "GameCrush's" Top 10: Most Badass Video Game Characters list and third on "ScrewAttack"s Top Ten Coolest Video Game Characters list. The original game's demonic enemies were "ferocious", the sub-bosses "incredibly tough" and the bosses (particularly Vergil) "very tough", providing many of the game's challenges. "Eurogamer" called the demons "some of the most bizarre-looking creatures you will find this side of "American McGee's Alice"" and the bosses "vast", with their battles requiring a variety of strategies (although the fight with Nightmare was considered repetitive). Because Dante and Vergil are half demon and half human, they were noted as bringing in religious overtones to the games, although this was initially subtle. Ninja Theory made a more direct reference to the way religion is portrayed in gaming while showing the parallels between the identical twins. On the other hand, the cast from the first "Devil May Cry" were felt to be underdeveloped.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: In its review of "Devil May Cry 2", "GameSpot" said that the characters lacked personality (based on the removal of Dante's distinctive traits). It also felt that Lucia's role was too small, not allowing the character time to develop. The website called the game's enemies "mindless", noting that most characters (including the bosses) could be defeated with the default attacks. Dante's younger persona in "Devil May Cry 3" and the relationships he goes through in the narrative were also given a major focus by reviewers and found to be superior to Kamiya's original take. The missions where the player controls Vergil in "Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition" added "an all-new and unique play style". Being able to play his story arc was "such a blast that Capcom could probably have released his modes separately for $19.99 and gotten away with it" according to one reviewer.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: The characters in "Devil May Cry 4" were said to resemble a "legion of seraphim the likes of which gamers have never seen before, and it puts an interesting spin on what all of our preconceptions of 'good' are in a video game". 1UP.com noted that the enemies shared visual elements with the military personnel of actual religions: "Considering the visual nature of the heavily-armored, winged, angelic warriors scattered around the various missions, it'd be easy to confuse these characters with crusaders of Christian origin." Dante's dynamic with Nero in the following game garnered positive responses as critics found none of them overshadowed the other even if Dante's fans had to wait for the game's second half to control him while enjoying the older characterization.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: "Devil May Cry 5"s narrative was well received due to the handling of the characters and their connections. Despite liking Dante's relationship with Nero to the point of comparing them like father and son, "USGamer" found Dante's treatment of the younger demon hunter mean-spirited even though the character later reveals he does not want Nero to face Vergil because of their connection. Several critics focused on the increased number of moves available to the three protagonists. "The Daily Telegraph" praised the characters' mechanics, most notably V's for how differently he plays in contrast to Nero and Dante while still remaining entertaining. While IGN felt Dante was similar to his presentation in previous games, they noted the new weapons he presents were much more enjoyable. VideoGamer.com was more critical of the plot, believing the narrative, and villain were "dull" despite some interesting interactions in the storyline.


title: Characters of Devil May Cry

text: In addition to the games, anime and manga, "Devil May Cry" characters have appeared in merchandise including novels, comic books, a skin variety on the PlayStation Portable, a special edition of the PlayStation 3 console and several soundtracks. Capcom has made other merchandise available including concept art for "The Animated Series", T-shirts, rings, collars and handbags. The series' popularity led to a line of action figures produced by Toycom; Kaiyodo produced a similar line for "Devil May Cry 2" and a "Devil May Cry " Dante action figure. Kotobukiya produced statues (including Vergil and Dante) based on the characters after the release of "The Animated Series" and "Devil May Cry 4", and other merchandise includes posters and framed stamps for the series' 10th anniversary.


title: Worm drive

text: A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm wheel (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear). The two elements are also called the worm screw and worm gear. The terminology is often confused by imprecise use of the term "worm gear" to refer to the worm, the worm wheel, or the worm drive as a unit.


title: Worm drive

text: The worm drive or "endless screw" was invented by either Archytas of Terentum, Apollonius of Perga, or Archimedes, the last one being the most probable author. The worm drive later appeared in the Indian subcontinent, for use in roller cotton gins, during the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries.


title: Worm drive

text: A gearbox designed using a worm and worm wheel is considerably smaller than one made from plain spur gears, and has its drive axes at 90° to each other.


title: Worm drive

text: With a "single-start" worm, for each 360° turn of the worm, the worm wheel advances by only one tooth. Therefore, regardless of the worm's size (sensible engineering limits notwithstanding), the gear ratio is the ""size of the worm wheel - to - 1"".


title: Worm drive

text: Given a single-start worm, a 20-tooth worm wheel reduces the speed by the ratio of 20:1. With spur gears, a gear of 12 teeth must match with a 240-tooth gear to achieve the same 20:1 ratio. Therefore, if the diametrical pitch (DP) of each gear is the same, then, in terms of the physical size of the 240 tooth gear to that of the 20 tooth gear, the worm arrangement is considerably smaller in volume.


title: Worm drive

text: The first are "non-throated" worm drives. These don't have a "throat", or groove, machined around the circumference of either the worm or worm wheel. The second are single-throated worm drives, in which the worm wheel is throated. The final type are double-throated worm drives, which have both gears throated. This type of gearing can support the highest loading.


title: Worm drive

text: An enveloping (hourglass) worm has one or more teeth, and increases in diameter from its middle portion toward both ends.


title: Worm drive

text: Double-enveloping worm gearing comprises enveloping worms mated with fully enveloping worm wheels. It is also known as globoidal worm gearing.


title: Worm drive

text: Unlike with ordinary gear trains, the direction of transmission (input shaft vs output shaft) is not reversible when using large reduction ratios. This is due to the greater friction involved between the worm and worm wheel, and is especially prevalent when a single-start (one spiral) worm is used. This can be an advantage when it is desired to eliminate any possibility of the output driving the input. If a multi-start worm (multiple spirals) is used, then the ratio reduces accordingly, and the "braking effect" of a worm and worm wheel may need to be discounted, as the wheel may be able to drive the worm.


title: Worm drive

text: Worm drive configurations in which the wheel cannot drive the worm are called "self-locking". Whether a worm drive is self-locking depends on the lead angle, the pressure angle, and the coefficient of friction.


title: Worm drive

text: In early 20th century automobiles prior to the introduction of power steering, the effect of a flat or blowout on one of the front wheels tended to pull the steering mechanism toward the side with the flat tire. The use of a worm drive reduced this effect. Further worm drive development led to recirculating ball bearings to reduce frictional forces, which transmitted some steering force to the wheel. This aids vehicle control, and reduces wear that could cause difficulties in steering precisely.


title: Worm drive

text: Worm drives are a compact means of substantially decreasing speed and increasing torque. Small electric motors are generally high-speed and low-torque; the addition of a worm drive increases the range of applications that it may be suitable for, especially when the worm drive's compactness is considered.


title: Worm drive

text: Worm drives are used in presses, rolling mills, conveying engineering, mining industry machines, on rudders, and circular saws. In addition, milling heads and rotary tables are positioned using high-precision duplex worm drives with adjustable backlash. Worm drives are used on many lift/elevator and escalator-drive applications, due to their compact size and their non-reversibility.


title: Worm drive

text: In the era of sailing ships, the introduction of a worm drive to control the rudder was a significant advance. Prior to its introduction, a rope drum drive controlled the rudder. Rough seas could apply substantial force to the rudder, often requiring several men to steer the vessel—some drives had two large-diameter wheels so that up to four crewmen could operate the rudder.


title: Worm drive

text: Worm drives have been used in a few automotive rear-axle final drives (though not the differential itself). They took advantage of the location of the worm being at either the very top or very bottom of the differential crown wheel. In the 1910s, they were common on trucks; to gain the most clearance on muddy roads, the worm was placed on top. In the 1920s, the Stutz firm used them on its cars; to have a lower floor than its competitors, the worm was located on the bottom. An example circa 1960 was the Peugeot 404. The worm drive protects the vehicle against rollback. This ability has largely fallen from favour, due to the higher-than-necessary reduction ratios.


title: Worm drive

text: A more recent exception to this is the Torsen differential, which uses worm wheels and planetary worms, in place of the bevel gearing of conventional open differentials. Torsen differentials are most prominently featured in the Humvee and some commercial Hummer vehicles, and as a centre differential in some all-wheel drive systems, such as Audi's quattro. Very heavy trucks, such as those used to carry aggregates, often use a worm drive differential for strength. The worm drive is not as efficient as a hypoid gear, and such trucks invariably have a very large differential housing, with a correspondingly large volume of gear oil, to absorb and dissipate the heat created.


title: Worm drive

text: Worm drives are used as the tuning mechanism for many musical instruments, including guitars, double basses, mandolins, bouzoukis, and many banjos (although most high-end banjos use planetary gears or friction pegs). A worm drive tuning device is called a machine head.


title: Worm drive

text: Plastic worm drives are often used on small battery-operated electric motors, to provide an output with a lower angular velocity (fewer revolutions per minute) than that of the motor, which operates best at a fairly high speed. This motor-worm-drive system is often used in toys and other small electrical devices.


title: Worm drive

text: A worm drive is used on jubilee-type hose clamps or jubilee clamps. The tightening screw's worm thread engages with the slots on the clamp band.


title: Worm drive

text: Occasionally a worm drive is designed to run in reverse, resulting in the worm shaft turning much faster than the input. Examples of this may be seen in some hand-cranked centrifuges, blacksmithing forge blower, or the wind governor in a musical box.


title: Worm drive

text: A right-hand helical gear or right-hand worm is one in which the teeth twist clockwise as they recede from an observer looking along the axis. The designations, right-hand and left-hand, are the same as in the long-established practice for screw threads, both external and internal. Two external helical gears operating on parallel axes must be of opposite hand. An internal helical gear and its pinion must be of the same hand.


title: Worm drive

text: A left-hand helical gear or left-hand worm is one in which the teeth twist anticlockwise as they recede from an observer looking along the axis.


title: Nuvve Nuvve

text: Nuvve.. Nuvve... () is a 2002 Indian Telugu-language romance film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film starred Tarun, Shriya Saran, and Prakash Raj in important lead roles. Upon release, the film and the soundtrack received rave reviews, and has garnered two state Nandi Awards, and a Filmfare Award South. The film was subsequently dubbed into Marathi as Shahane Saasarebuva by B4U Marathi and in Malayalam as "Pranayamay".


title: Nuvve Nuvve

text: Anjali (Shriya Saran) is the daughter of a millionaire Vishwanath (Prakash Raj) who loves his daughter very much. So much that he even buys her an Icecream Parlor when his daughter asks him for an ice cream. What Vishwanath expects is a son-in-law who will never oppose him in any matter. Rishi (Tarun) hails from a middle-class family. His father, played by Chandramohan, owns a department store. He is a good-hearted but happy-go-lucky guy. Anjali happens to join the college in which Rishi is a senior. Soon, they fall in love with each other. On one occasion, Rishi takes Anjali to Mumbai for dinner. Anjali tries to shake off the issue with her father, saying that she was with one of her friends. But unfortunately, Vishwanath calls that friend up when Anjali was missing. He tells him that Anjali went to Mumbai with someone called Rishi. This is enough for Vishwanath's suspicion to rise that Anjali has fallen in love. He asks Rishi to prove his worth and asks him in some way to earn any money so that he can support Anjali, who he has brought up in riches. When Rishi refuses to comply, he gives Rishi one crore rupees to forget his daughter. Rishi takes it and then later gives it back, insulting Viswanath, and tries to prove that his love is greater than everything and money can't buy his love. To retaliate, Vishwanath insults Rishi's family by getting a beggar for marriage with Rishi's sister to try to convey to them the pain he must feel. Rishi then creates a scene in Viswanath's office beating up security guy and destroying computers in the office, Rishi clarifies that in the proposal that beggar be married to Rishi's sister there is no love between the two, but Rishi and Anjali love each other. Anjali starts to show more feelings for Rishi. Worried, Vishwanath tries to set Anjali's marriage with another guy. Anjali meets Rishi at his home and requests him to marry her right at the moment, but Rishi convinces Anjali that this is not the right way. Rishi takes her back to her home, there Rishi challenges Vishwanath that if getting Anjali married to some one else is right then that marriage can't be stopped, but if it is wrong then that marriage cannot happen. Consequent incidents make Vishwanath realize his mistakes and the arranged marriage fails while Viswanath marries Anjali to Rishi.


title: Shrug

text: A shrug is a gesture performed by raising both shoulders, and is a representation of an individual either being indifferent about something or not knowing an answer to a question. A shrug is an emblem, meaning that it integrates the vocabulary of only certain cultures and may be used in place of words.


title: Shrug

text: The shrug emoticon, made from Unicode characters, is also typed as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, where "ツ" is the character tsu from Japanese katakana.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a burning, tingling or scalding sensation in the mouth, lasting for at least four to six months, with no underlying known dental or medical cause. No related signs of disease are found in the mouth. People with burning mouth syndrome may also have a subjective xerostomia (dry mouth sensation where no cause can be found such as reduced salivary flow), paraesthesia (altered sensation such as tingling in the mouth), or an altered sense of taste or smell.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: A burning sensation in the mouth can be a symptom of another disease when local or systemic factors are found to be implicated; this is not considered to be burning mouth syndrome, which is a syndrome of medically unexplained symptoms. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines burning mouth syndrome as "a distinctive nosological entity characterized by unremitting oral burning or similar pain in the absence of detectable mucosal changes" and "burning pain in the tongue or other oral mucous membranes", and the International Headache Society defines it as "an intra-oral burning sensation for which no medical or dental cause can be found". To ensure the correct diagnosis of burning mouth syndrome, Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC/BMS) have been developed.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: By definition, BMS has no signs. Sometimes affected persons will attribute the symptoms to sores in the mouth, but these are in fact normal anatomic structures (e.g. lingual papillae, varices). Symptoms of BMS are variable, but the typical clinical picture is given below, considered according to the Socrates pain assessment method (see table). If clinical signs are visible, then another explanation for the burning sensation may be present. Erythema (redness) and edema (swelling) of papillae on the tip of the tongue may be a sign that the tongue is being habitually pressed against the teeth. The number and size of filiform papillae may be reduced. If the tongue is very red and smooth, then there is likely a local or systemic cause (e.g. eythematous candidiasis, anemia).


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: In about 50% of cases of burning mouth sensation no identifiable cause is apparent; these cases are termed (primary) BMS. Several theories of what causes BMS have been proposed, and these are supported by varying degrees of evidence, but none is proven.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: As most people with BMS are postmenopausal women, one theory of the cause of BMS is of estrogen or progesterone deficit, but a strong statistical correlation has not been demonstrated. Another theory is that BMS is related to autoimmunity, as abnormal antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor can be found in the serum of more than 50% of persons with BMS, but these levels may also be seen in elderly people who do not have any of the symptoms of this condition. Whilst salivary flow rates are normal and there are no clinical signs of a dry mouth to explain a complaint of dry mouth, levels of salivary proteins and phosphate may be elevated and salivary pH or buffering capacity may be reduced.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Depression and anxiety are strongly associated with BMS. It is not known if depression is a cause or result of BMS, as depression may develop in any setting of constant unrelieved irritation, pain, and sleep disturbance. It is estimated that about 20% of BMS cases involve psychogenic factors, and some consider BMS a psychosomatic illness, caused by cancerophobia, concern about sexually transmitted infections, or hypochondriasis.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Chronic low-grade trauma due to parafunctional habits (e.g. rubbing the tongue against the teeth or pressing it against the palate), may be involved. BMS is more common in persons with Parkinson's disease, so it has been suggested that it is a disorder of reduced pain threshold and increased sensitivity. Often people with BMS have unusually raised taste sensitivity, termed hypergeusia ("super tasters"). Dysgeusia (usually a bitter or metallic taste) is present in about 60% of people with BMS, a factor which led to the concept of a defect in sensory peripheral neural mechanisms. Changes in the oral environment, such as changes in the composition of saliva, may induce neuropathy or interruption of nerve transduction. The onset of BMS is often spontaneous, although it may be gradual. There is sometimes a correlation with a major life event or stressful period in life. In women, the onset of BMS is most likely three to twelve years following menopause.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Several local and systemic factors can give a burning sensation in the mouth without any clinical signs, and therefore may be misdiagnosed as BMS. Some sources state that where there is an identifiable cause for a burning sensation, this can be termed "secondary BMS" to distinguish it from primary BMS. However, the accepted definitions of BMS hold that there are no identifiable causes for BMS, and where there are identifiable causes, the term BMS should not be used.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Some causes of a burning mouth sensation may be accompanied by clinical signs in the mouth or elsewhere on the body. For example, burning mouth pain may be a symptom of allergic contact stomatitis. This is a contact sensitivity (type IV hypersensitivity reaction) in the oral tissues to common substances such as sodium lauryl sulfate, cinnamaldehyde or dental materials. However, allergic contact stomatitis is accompanied by visible lesions and gives positive response with patch testing. Acute (short term) exposure to the allergen (the substance triggering the allergic response) causes non-specific inflammation and possibly mucosal ulceration. Chronic (long term) exposure to the allergen may appear as chronic inflammatory, lichenoid (lesions resembling oral lichen planus), or plasma cell gingivitis, which may be accompanied by glossitis and cheilitis. Apart from BMS itself, a full list of causes of an oral burning sensation is given below:


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: BMS is a diagnosis of exclusion, i.e. all other explanations for the symptoms are ruled out before the diagnosis is made. There are no clinically useful investigations that would help to support a diagnosis of BMS (by definition all tests would have normal results), but blood tests and / or urinalysis may be useful to rule out anemia, deficiency states, hypothyroidism and diabetes. Investigation of a dry mouth symptom may involve sialometry, which objectively determines if there is any reduction of the salivary flow rate (hyposalivation). Oral candidiasis can be tested for with use of a swabs, smears, an oral rinse or saliva samples. It has been suggested that allergy testing ("e.g.", patch test) is inappropriate in the absence of a clear history and clinical signs in people with a burning sensation in the mouth. The diagnosis of a people with a burning symptom may also involve psychologic screening e.g. depression questionnaires.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: The second edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders lists diagnostic criteria for "Glossodynia and Sore Mouth":


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: A burning sensation in the mouth may be primary (i.e. burning mouth syndrome) or secondary to systemic or local factors. Other sources refer to a "secondary BMS" with a similar definition, i.e. a burning sensation which is caused by local or systemic factors, or "where oral burning is explained by a clinical abnormality". However this contradicts the accepted definition of BMS which specifies that no cause can be identified. "Secondary BMS" could therefore be considered a misnomer. BMS is an example of dysesthesia, or a distortion of sensation.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Some consider BMS to be a variant of atypical facial pain. More recently, BMS has been described as one of the 4 recognizable symptom complexes of chronic facial pain, along with atypical facial pain, temporomandibular joint dysfunction and atypical odontalgia. BMS has been subdivided into three general types, with type two being the most common and type three being the least common. Types one and two have unremitting symptoms, whereas type three may show remitting symptoms.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Sometimes those terms specific to the tongue (e.g. "glossodynia") are reserved for when the burning sensation is located only on the tongue.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: If a cause can be identified for a burning sensation in the mouth, then treatment of this underlying factor is recommended. If symptom persist despite treatment a diagnosis of BMS is confirmed. BMS has been traditionally treated by reassurance and with antidepressants, anxiolytics or anticonvulsants. A 2016 Cochrane review of treatment for burning mouth syndrome concluded that strong evidence of an effective treatment was not available, however, a systematic review in 2018 found that the use of antidepressants and alpha-lipoic acids gave promising results.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: Other treatments which have been used include atypical antipsychotics, histamine receptor antagonists, and dopamine agonists. Supplementation with vitamin complexes and cognitive behavioral therapy may be helpful in the management of burning mouth syndrome.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: BMS is benign (importantly, it is not a symptom of oral cancer), but as a cause of chronic pain which is poorly controlled, it can detriment quality of life, and may become a fixation which cannot be ignored, thus interfering with work and other daily activities. Two thirds of people with BMS have a spontaneous partial recovery six to seven years after the initial onset, but in others the condition is permanent. Recovery is often preceded by a change in the character of the symptom from constant to intermittent. No clinical factors predicting recovery have been noted.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: If there is an identifiable cause for the burning sensation, then psychologic dysfunctions such as anxiety and depression often disappear if the symptom is successfully treated.


title: Burning mouth syndrome

text: BMS is fairly uncommon worldwide, affecting up to five individuals per 100,000 general population. People with BMS are more likely to be middle aged or elderly, and females are three to seven times more likely to have BMS than males. Some report a female to male ratio of as much as 33 to 1. BMS is reported in about 10-40% of women seeking medical treatment for menopausal symptoms, and BMS occurs in about 14% of postmenopausal women. Males and younger individuals of both sexes are sometimes affected.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Public housing in Singapore is subsidised, built and managed by the Government of Singapore. Starting in the 1930s, the country's first public housing was built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in a similar fashion to contemporaneous British public housing projects, and housing for the resettlement of squatters was built from the late 1950s. In the 1960s, under the SIT's successor the Housing and Development Board (HDB), public housing consisting of small units with basic amenities was constructed as quickly and cheaply as possible at high densities, and was used for resettlement schemes. From the late 1960s, housing programmes focused more on quality, public housing was built in new towns, and a scheme allowing residents to lease their flats was introduced. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, more public housing options were provided for the middle class and efforts to increase community cohesion within housing estates were made. From the 1990s, the government began portraying public housing as an asset, introducing large-scale upgrading schemes and loosening regulations on the resale of public housing while additional housing programmes for the sandwich classes and elderly residents were introduced. Rising housing prices led to public housing being seen as an investment from the 2000s, and new technologies and eco-friendly features were incorporated into housing estates.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In the early 2020s, Singapore's public housing is located in new towns, in communities that are intended to be self-contained, with services nearby housing blocks, and is either owned by or rented to residents. Lessee-occupied public housing is sold on a 99-year lease and can be sold on the private resale market under certain restrictions. Rental housing consists of smaller units and is mainly meant for lower-income households. Housing grants are provided to lower-income applicants for flat purchases while flats with shorter leases and lease monetisation schemes have been implemented for elderly homeowners. Housing estates are managed and maintained by town Councils, and older housing estates are improved by the Housing and Development Board under the Estate Renewal Strategy.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: During British colonial rule, Singapore had an underdeveloped housing infrastructure that led to overcrowding and poor living conditions once it experienced an uptick in immigration. Model public housing was first built in Singapore by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) from the late 1920s. Intended to house people displaced by the clearance of unsanitary buildings or by town improvement schemes, the SIT's initial housing schemes were small in scale but well received. From the early 1930s, the SIT subsequently started planning larger housing estates on the outskirts of the Central Area, and after being unable to encourage the private development of such estates, constructed the first estate, Tiong Bahru, from 1936. Subsequently, the SIT began focusing more on public housing provision from the late 1940s. The public housing built by the SIT was similar in terms of density and living space to British public housing projects of the time, with low population densities, and housed nine per cent of Singapore's population by 1959.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: After the Second World War, Singapore experienced a significant influx of immigrants, many of whom settled in urban kampongs at the edge of the Central Area. Consisting of wooden houses built over empty plots, swamps and old cemeteries, these kampongs expanded rapidly through the 1950s, housing a quarter of Singapore's urban population by the early 1960s. The kampongs largely functioned as autonomous areas, with many residents taking up jobs in the informal economy or joining secret societies, which provided security within the kampongs. This autonomy led to the colonial government perceiving the kampongs as socially undesirable areas, and as a "margin" that they had little authority over and which had to be cleared and replaced with public housing.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In addition, the closely spaced wooden houses in urban kampongs made these areas highly susceptible to fire, and such fires broke out frequently and displaced many residents. The British colonial authorities saw these fires as opportunities to integrate displaced kampong dwellers into formal society by rehousing them in formal housing, but were initially unable to convince the SIT to build such housing over financial sustainability concerns.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Subsequently, in 1953, as the flats it usually built were proving expensive to construct, the SIT reluctantly started constructing emergency housing for displaced kampong dwellers, but the housing were poorly received so the SIT scaled back construction two years later.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: By the late 1950s, the issue of rehousing urban kampong residents in formal housing had become highly politicised, so the Labour Front government adopted a clear emergency housing strategy. After fires at Kampong Koo Chye and Kampong Tiong Bahru, the government took over the fire sites and instructed the SIT to build flats on them. The SIT also envisioned a resettlement plan in Kampong Tiong Bahru after the fire, acquiring additional land for emergency flats and renting out the flats to the kampong dwellers. These schemes were also poorly received by the displaced kampong residents.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: The SIT faced multiple issues in its provision of public housing; rents for SIT flats were unaffordable for most of the local population and too low to be financially sustainable for the SIT, and by 1949, new flats were not being built quickly enough to keep up with the increase in population in Singapore. By 1958, the SIT was unable to financially sustain its public housing programme and delays in approval of new housing projects slowed construction even further.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: The People's Action Party government that subsequently came into power in 1959 held similar views on housing and the kampongs as the colonial government. Consequently, plans to replace the SIT with a new housing authority were drawn up in the late 1950s, and in February 1960, it was replaced with the Housing and Development Board (HDB). The HDB announced a five-year housing plan with high aspirations and continued the SIT's emergency housing programme from November 1960, adopting a strategy of building one-room flats for resettlement schemes. In May 1961, in the aftermath of a subsequent fire in Bukit Ho Swee, the government immediately took over the fire site, set aside most of the emergency flats in Kampong Tiong Bahru for the rehousing of displaced kampong dwellers, and developed a housing estate on the site of the kampong that was completed between 1963 and 1965. The Bukit Ho Swee estate was used to rehouse other kampong residents displaced by fires or development schemes, paving the way for further urban renewal and resettlement schemes in the Central Area. By 1965, more than 50,000 flats had been constructed and 23% of Singapore's population lived in public housing.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In the 1960s, the HDB's housing was intended to be built as quickly and cheaply as possible, and consisted mainly of one- and two-room flats. These were built at high densities to make the most of the limited land available for public housing. Housing estates built during this period had limited amenities; they were built at the edge of the Central Area, whose facilities and services residents relied on.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Through the development of public housing, the government attempted to change the behaviour of the kampong residents with prohibitions on modifying or subletting flats, and to have more control over them. The government intended to build harmony between Singapore's racial groups; the new housing estates had no racial distinctions, unlike the settlements that preceded them. In addition, the design of housing units brought about a shift away from larger family structures towards nuclear families, while Riaz Hassan noted that since the design of public housing inhibited communication between neighbours, there was a lack of community and social cohesion within housing blocks and estates. Nevertheless, the intended residents resisted the resettlement schemes and many residents loathed the one-room emergency flats. The government attempted to provide housing to all people and organisations affected by the schemes. The HDB shifted away from constructing one-room flats from the late 1960s.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In 1964, a home leasehold ownership scheme was introduced but it was poorly received at first because most public housing residents were unable to afford the flats. Applicants could use their contributions from the Central Provident Fund (CPF), a compulsory savings scheme, to pay for their flats from 1968, and by 1984, 62 percent of flats were owned.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: The HDB started constructing its first new town in 1965; it was located about from the city centre, and had a town centre with amenities and industrial areas to provide employment to residents. From the late 1960s, the HDB began focusing on the quality of public housing, building larger flats and providing more amenities in housing estates. In addition, the 1966 Land Acquisition Act gave the government broad powers to take over land and made more land available for public housing.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: From the 1970s, public housing was constructed further away from the Central Area, more amenities were provided in new towns and flat sizes continued to increase. Owners were allowed to sell their flats on the resale market from 1971, and from the mid-1970s, the designs of public housing developments became more diverse. To provide flats for middle-class residents, who at the time could not afford to purchase housing built by private developers and were ineligible for flats built by the HDB, the Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) was set up in 1974. The HUDC's housing estates had layouts similar to those of private condominiums, and were initially well received. In addition, flats were built by the Jurong Town Corporation in Jurong and Sembawang between 1968 and 1982.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In the late 1970s, in an attempt to build a sense of community within housing estates, Residents' Communities and the precinct concept were introduced. Rising construction costs during this period resulted in designs again becoming more uniform and from the early 1980s, housing construction started incorporating more prefabricated sections to reduce costs. The 1980s saw the introduction of larger executive flats while the HDB, which took over the HUDC in 1982, stopped construction of the middle class flats that had been constructed by the HUDC as the prices of these flats were approaching those of housing built by private developers, while the raising of income ceilings for the HDB's lower-end flats made the middle class eligible for these flats. In the light of falling demand for smaller flats, those in older housing estates were enlarged while older housing blocks that did not meet the HDB's standards were torn down. Flat modification regulations were relaxed and housing estates were upgraded on an "ad hoc" basis.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: To ensure people of different races were evenly distributed across public housing estates, a limit on Malay residents was introduced for new flats. This proved insufficient to prevent the formation of racial enclaves so in 1989, the limits were extended to all races and also to the resale market.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: From the 1990s, the Singapore government started portraying public housing as an asset and as a useful tool for safeguarding retirement. The government pursued measures for upgrading and "asset enhancement", and loosened restrictions on the public housing resale market. The first of these schemes, a large-scale, upgrading scheme, was announced in 1989. The scheme's aim was intended to make older housing estates more attractive to younger people, and included the creation of differentiated precincts, the provision of more amenities, and upgrades to blocks and flats. town councils and residents were able to determine the nature and extent of the upgrades to their estates. After a trial on vacant housing blocks and a demonstration phase on selected blocks, the scheme was initiated in 1993.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: A less-extensive interim upgrading programme was carried out in newer estates and several town councils carried out their lease amenity-upgrading schemes. In 1995, the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme to redevelop selected housing blocks in older estates was introduced. These upgrading schemes were subsequently used for political ends; politicians from the ruling People's Action Party stated estates with higher proportions of votes for the ruling party would be prioritised for upgrading schemes.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Besides the upgrading programmes, additional housing schemes were introduced in the 1990s. These included executive condominiums with similar amenities to private condominiums for the sandwich class, along with Design Plus and Design and Build flats, which had higher-quality fittings and designs, and were designed with feedback from private architects. Design and Build flats were also developed by private architects and building contractors. In 1997, smaller studio apartments that were fitted with elderly-friendly features were introduced. Both public and private housing were built within the same new towns from the 1990s, while from 1995, HUDC estates were privatised, and residents took over the management and leasehold ownership of the estates.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Facing a glut of flats in the housing market, the HDB significantly reduced public housing construction in the early 2000s, and housing was built only when demand was present. The 2000s also saw the incorporation of new technology and eco-friendly features in public housing estates, and their planning was aided by computer simulations. The Design, Build and Sell Scheme, under which the design, construction and sale of flats is handled by private developers, was introduced in 2005.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Additional upgrading programmes, such as the Lift Upgrading and Home Improvement Programmes, regarding direct lift access and flat interiors respectively, were also introduced. Remaking Our Heartland, an extensive development scheme for existing new towns, was introduced in 2007. Public involvement in public-housing provision increased; public consultations on community building in housing estates waqs held in 2006, and residents could give feedback and vote on estate improvements under the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme, which was introduced in 2007. The proportion of permanent residents in public housing also increased and in 2010, a quota on non-Malaysian permanent residents was introduced to prevent the formation of enclaves.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In 2011, the HDB released its Roadmap to Better Living, setting out its plans for housing in the 2010s; it aimed to provide well-connected, unique and sustainable housing estates. More public housing was built in response to increased demand. Attempts to increase residents' involvement in upgrading schemes were made under the poorly received 2013 Building Our Neighbourhood Dreams! programme, under which residents could make suggestions about estate improvements. In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the HDB made further efforts to make housing estates unique and sustainable through the introduction of design guides for each new town and the HDB Green Towns Programme respectively. Community Care Apartments for the elderly with care services for residents were introduced.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Singapore's public housing is constructed within new towns, which are intended to function as independent communities. These new towns are planned on the basis of zoning of land for multiple uses, and house up to 300,000 residents. Each new town is divided into neighbourhoods, which are further subdivided into precincts. Each precinct has about 400 to 800 flats within seven or eight housing blocks. Up to half of the land area in the new towns is set aside for amenities, which are provided on levels ranging from the town centre to the individual housing block and, according to certain guidelines, allowing facilities to be located near residents. Different flat types are spread out across new towns to prevent the concentration of people of a certain income group in any area.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: The first new town in Singapore, Queenstown, was developed by the SIT in the 1950s, and the development of new towns was continued by the HDB from the mid-1960s. New towns were planned following a prototype new town model from the early 1970s, and the new towns built in the 1970s comprised a town centre and several neighbourhoods, the latter of which were differentiated by different road numbering systems and housing block paint schemes. New towns built from the late 1970s adopted a "checkerboard model", with residential and non-residential areas alternated throughout the town, and showed increased variance in design and layout, in an attempt by the HDB to give each new town a unique identity.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In the late 1990s, under a revised new town model, newly built new towns comprised densely built developments integrating both public housing and amenities. Subsequently, in the 2000s and 2010s, new towns were built with the aid of computer models, incorporated new technologies and monitoring systems, and had layouts inspired by the environment of the areas in which they were built.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Under the Singapore Improvement Trust, public housing design followed Western architectural styles such as Streamline Moderne and the International Style while incorporating features suited to Singapore's tropical climate. These features are derived from the designs of shophouses, and include five-foot ways, back lanes and spiral staircases.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: With an emphasis on quantity, public housing built during the HDB's initial years was very basic and consisted of small housing units that were barely fitted out, and housing estates were provided with few amenities. Quality improvements in public housing started in the late 1960s with the inclusion of landscaping, and more amenities such as open spaces and car parks within housing estates.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: As new towns were built farther away from the Central Area from the 1970s, amenities such as retail and industrial areas were provided within the new towns to give them a degree of self-sufficiency. A prototype new-town model dictating the distribution of services was also adopted. Efforts to distinguish neighbourhoods through the use of numbering schemes and paint schemes for housing blocks were made. Access corridors in housing blocks were divided into multiple parts for resident privacy, housing-block designs were made less uniform and more visually appealing, and the ground floors were left empty and unfinished. The HDB intended this "void deck" to be used for communal activities.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: From the 1980s, public housing design was intended to give estates a unique character through the variation of block heights within estates and the incorporation of traditional architecture elements into housing block design. Block layouts in new towns were varied with a shift in emphasis away from solar orientation while as part of the precinct concept, groups of blocks were built closer together and open areas were added to foster community interaction.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Public housing design in Singapore began to shift away from a modernist style in the 1990s, with elements from multiple architectural styles added to housing blocks through upgrading schemes. In addition, more effort was made to differentiate housing block designs, while higher quality fittings within housing units were also introduced. Multiple types of services were also provided within integrated developments, while additional community spaces were added in housing estates.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: In the 2000s, Singaporean public housing began incorporating technology such as pneumatic waste collection, sensor-activated lights, and eco-friendly and energy-efficient features. Housing estates began to incorporate more greenery while additional recreation facilities such as cycling tracks and natural features were provided. The 2010s brought an increased focus on estate identity and quality of life; historical and natural aspects of the locations of estates were used as inspiration for their design.


title: Public housing in Singapore

text: Most public housing in Singapore is lessee-occupied. Under Singapore's housing leasehold ownership programme, housing units are sold on a 99-year leasehold to applicants who meet certain income, citizenship and property leasehold ownership requirements. The estate's land and common areas continue to be owned by the government. , new lessee-occupied flats are sold under the Build-To-Order and Sale of Balance Flats programmes. Executive condominiums, although considered private housing and constructed and sold by private developers, have similar leases and requirements to lessee-occupied public housing. For those in the lower-income groups, grants are available from the government to help them pay for their flat purchase. These grants are adjusted based on household income.