upholstery, materials used in the craft of covering, padding, and stuffing seating and bedding. The earliest upholsterers, from early Egyptian times to the beginning of the Renaissance, nailed animal skins or dressed leather across a rigid framework. They slowly developed the craft to include

Lebanon: Origins and relations with Egypt: …Byblos, the central district (Upi) included the southern Al-Biqāʿ valley and Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and the third district (Canaan) included all of Palestine from the Egyptian border to Byblos. Also among the letters are many documents addressed by the subject princes of Phoenicia and their Egyptian governors to the pharaoh.…

United Press International (UPI), American-based news agency, one of the largest proprietary wire services in the world. It was created in 1958 upon the merger of the United Press (UP; 1907) with the International News Service (INS). UPI and its precursor agencies pioneered in some key areas of

disability studies: In the United Kingdom the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), formed in 1972, was instrumental in politicizing disability in the U.K. and abroad. In the United States the disability rights movement advocated for legislation relating to the civil rights of individuals with regard to employment, education, and…

Orange River: Physiography: At Upington the river—by then flowing westward—spreads out over a granite surface. In this area the Orange splits up into innumerable channels, between which are islands of varying length; and the river attains its greatest width, which may reach nearly four miles in places. About 40…

Richard Upjohn: …poor parishes he published in Upjohn’s Rural Architecture (1852; reprinted 1975) an unpretentious design in wood, remarkable for its structural honesty and its liturgical character.

Richard Upjohn was a British-American architect who was the most active exponent in his time of the Gothic Revival style in ecclesiastical architecture. Although his parents wished him to enter one of the “learned professions,” Upjohn became apprenticed to a British cabinetmaker. In 1829, having

Western architecture: United States: …competition, however, was won by Richard M. Upjohn, son of the church builder, who provided a Gothic project that was equally grandiose if more equivocal in expression. Within a few years Hartford was to possess an authentic Burges building, Trinity College. Only a small part of Burges’s magnificent design of…

Chester, city, Delaware county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Delaware River (across from Bridgeport, New Jersey), within the Philadelphia metropolitan area. One of the oldest communities in the state, the Chester area was granted by the Swedish crown to a bodyguard of Johan Printz, the

cress: Upland cress (Barbarea verna), a hardy biennial native to Europe, is a coarse, often weedy plant rarely cultivated. The closely related winter cress, or yellow rocket (B. vulgaris), is a common weed, conspicuous in fields for its bright yellow spring flowers. Bitter cress, cuckoo flower,…

bald cypress: The smaller pond, or upland, cypress of the southeastern U.S. is usually listed as a variety of the bald cypress (T. distichum, variety imbricatum); however, it is sometimes considered to be a separate species (T. ascendens). The closely related Montezuma, or Mexican, cypress (T. mucronatum) is native…

sandpiper: The upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), also called Bartram’s sandpiper and, mistakenly, the upland plover, is an American bird of open fields. It is a slender, gray-streaked bird almost 30 cm long that feeds on grasshoppers and other insects.

rice: Domestication and cultivation: …exception of the type called upland rice, the plant is grown on submerged land in the coastal plains, tidal deltas, and river basins of tropical, semitropical, and temperate regions. The seeds are sown in prepared beds, and when the seedlings are 25 to 50 days old, they are transplanted to…

sandpiper: The upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), also called Bartram’s sandpiper and, mistakenly, the upland plover, is an American bird of open fields. It is a slender, gray-streaked bird almost 30 cm long that feeds on grasshoppers and other insects.

United States: The South of the United States: The Upland South, which comprises the southern Appalachians, the upper Appalachian Piedmont, the Cumberland and other low interior plateaus, and the Ozarks and Ouachitas, was colonized culturally and demographically from the Chesapeake Bay hearth area and the Midland; it is most emphatically white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP)…

uplift, in geology, an increase in the vertical elevation of Earth’s surface in response to natural causes. Broad, relatively slow and gentle uplift is termed warping, or epeirogeny, in contrast to the more concentrated and severe orogeny, the uplift associated with mountain building. Uplift during

telecommunications media: Satellite links: …terrestrial radio receivers through an uplink (a link from terrestrial transmitter to satellite receiver) and a downlink (a link from satellite transmitter to terrestrial receiver). Most telecommunications satellites have been placed in geostationary orbit (GEO), a circular orbit 35,785 km (22,235 miles) above the Earth in which the period of…

Television in the United States: The 1990s: the loss of shared experience: , and UPN (the United Paramount Network), premiered by Paramount.

Obafemi Awolowo: …as the leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria. He ran for president in the elections of 1979 and 1983 but was defeated both times by Shehu Shagari. Following a military coup at the end of 1983, parties were once again banned, and Awolowo retired from politics.

Zambia: Zambia in the 21st century: …competitor, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND). Lungu was sworn in as president on January 25.

Upolu, most populous island of Samoa, in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies across the Apolima Strait from the island of Savaiʿi to the west. Upolu is about 46 miles (74 km) long and 16 miles (26 km) across at its widest point. Its volcanic central mountain range reaches a maximum elevation of 3,608

uposatha, fortnightly meetings of the Buddhist monastic assembly, at the times of the full moon and the new moon, to reaffirm the rules of discipline. The uposatha observance, now confined almost entirely to the Theravāda (“Way of the Elders”) tradition of Southeast Asia, can be traced back to

Kristofer Oliver Uppdal was a working-class Norwegian novelist whose major work is the 10-volume Dansen gjenom skuggeheimen (1911–24; “The Dance Through the World of Shadows”), which deals with the development of the Norwegian industrial working class from its peasant origin. Uppdal was the heir to

space exploration: Preparing for spaceflight: An Upper Atmosphere Research Panel, chaired by the physicist James Van Allen, was formed to coordinate the scientific use of these rocket launchings. The panel had a central role in the early years of American space science, which focused on experiments on solar and stellar ultraviolet…

Oberösterreich, Bundesland (federal state), northern Austria. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic on the west and north and is bounded by Bundesländer Niederösterreich (Lower Austria) on the east and Steiermark (Styria) and Salzburg on the south. Oberösterreich lies between the Inn and the

River Avon, river, eastern tributary of the River Severn that rises near Naseby in central England and flows generally southwestward for 96 miles (154 km) through the counties of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a

Louis IV: The Tirolean question: …at his disposal, and the Upper Bavarian law code of 1346 (first formulated about 1335) remains a monument to these efforts. For, while Charles IV did what he could to erase Louis’s memory within the empire, Charles’s famous edict, the Golden Bull of 1356, represents only the final codification of…

Bolivia: Relief: …of the northern departments of Beni and Pando, where the low plains are covered by savanna and, in the far north, by expanses of tropical rainforest.

West Virginia: Postwar period: …killed 12 miners, and at Upper Big Branch Mine in April 2010, which killed 29, were a reminder that mines and mining disasters continued to play a role in West Virginia’s history.

stringed instrument: Morphology: …of the body, called the upper and lower bouts, are separated by the indented waist, or middle bout, which provides clearance for the bow on the outer strings. The middle bout meets the upper and lower to form outturned corners, where the ribs are brought together and glued firmly to…

Upper Burma, geographic and historical division of Burma (Myanmar), referring to the central and northern portion of the country. The division between Upper and Lower Burma was accentuated during 1852–85, when Lower Burma (comprising the extreme southern fringes of the country) became British

Cambrian Period: …to 509 million years ago), Series 3 (509 million to 497 million years ago), and the Furongian Series (497 million to 485.4 million years ago).

Canada West, in Canadian history, the region in Canada now known as Ontario. From 1791 to 1841 the region was known as Upper Canada and from 1841 to 1867 as Canada West, though the two names continued to be employed interchangeably. Canada West was settled primarily by English-speaking immigrants.

Egerton Ryerson: The school was renamed Victoria College in 1841, and he was its principal.

museum: History museums: …Village Museum in Bucharest, Romania; Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario; Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, U.S.; and the Novgorod State Museum Preserve in Russia.

Caucasian peoples: …in southwestern Russia, and the Kabardians, settled along the Kuban and upper Terek river basins, are the most populous. Among other northern Caucasian peoples are the Abkhaz, the Ingush, and the Lezgi. There are a vast number of less populous groups.

Kabardian language, language spoken in Kabardino-Balkaria republic, in southwestern Russia, in the northern Caucasus. It is related to the Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, and Ubykh languages, which constitute the Abkhazo-Adyghian, or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the

luxury: Economic aspect: …toward the luxurious expenditure of the rich is a mixture of envy—sometimes accompanied by, but often devoid of, a feeling of resentment—and of approval based on popular economic reasoning. It is a very widespread belief that such expenditure is good for trade because it makes money circulate and therefore increases…

statistics: Statistical process control: …chart, referred to as the upper control limit, and the lower horizontal line, referred to as the lower control limit, are chosen so that when the process is in control there will be a high probability that the value of a sample mean will fall between the two control limits.…

fungus: Form and function of lichens: The fungal layers are called upper cortex, medulla, and lower cortex. The upper cortex consists of either a few layers of tightly packed cells or hyphae that may contain pigments. A cuticle may cover the cortex. The lower cortex, which is similar in structure to the upper cortex, participates in…

Liechtenstein: Geography: The traditional regions of Vaduz and Schellenberg are still recognized as unique regions—the Upper Country (Oberland) and the Lower Country (Unterland), respectively—and they form separate electoral districts. All citizens age 18 or older who live in the principality are eligible to vote in national elections.

Creek: …two divisions of Creeks: the Muskogee (or Upper Creeks), settlers of the northern Creek territory; and the Hitchiti and Alabama, who had the same general traditions as the Upper Creeks but spoke a slightly different dialect and were known as the Lower Creeks.

Charles Sheeler: …one of his best-known pictures, “Upper Deck” (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.), which has been acclaimed for its pristine, geometric surfaces. “Rolling Power” (1939; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass.), another major work, emphasized the abstract power of the driving wheels of a locomotive. Sheeler also treated architectural subjects…

delta: …landward section is called the upper delta plain, the middle one the lower delta plain, and the third the subaqueous delta, which lies seaward of the shoreline and forms below sea level.

Devonian Period: Major subdivisions of the Devonian System: and Givetian stages), and the Upper Devonian Series (382.7 million–358.9 million years ago; comprising the Frasnian and Famennian stages).

Ganges-Yamuna Doab: The Upper Doab extends from Haridwar on the north to Aligarh on the south. It has a gentle slope and is crisscrossed by a number of streams. Secondary transverse slopes on older floodplains have developed in the Middle Doab. The topography flattens out in the Lower…

Africa: The Paleozoic Era: …and fossilized plants), and the Upper Ecca (about 650 feet [200 metres] of shales again).

Upper Egypt, geographic and cultural division of Egypt, generally consisting of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel N. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake Nasser (formed by the Aswan High Dam). This division also includes what some

Egypt: Settlement patterns: …up to Aswān governorate, the Ṣaʿīdīs, are more conservative than the delta people. In some areas women still do not appear in public without a veil; family honour is of great importance, and the vendetta remains an accepted (albeit illegal) means of resolving disputes between groups. Until the building of…

Engadin: …(at the Zernez Gorge) into Upper and Lower Engadin.

swallowing: …is a muscular constrictor, the upper esophageal sphincter, which relaxes and opens when food approaches. Food passes from the pharynx into the esophagus; the upper esophageal sphincter then immediately closes, preventing flow of food back into the mouth.

Ganges River: Irrigation: The Upper Ganga Canal, which begins at Hardiwar, and its branches have a combined length of 5,950 miles (9,575 km). The Lower Ganga Canal, extending 5,120 miles (8,240 km) with its branches, begins at Naraura. The Sarda Canal irrigates land near Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh.

West Germanic languages: History: …been the increasing standardization of High German and its increasing acceptance as the supradialectal form of the language. In writing, it is almost the only form used (except for limited printings of dialect literature); in speech, it is the first or second language of virtually the entire population.

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: Context: …Romans called Germania Inferior and Germania Superior, respectively. In 12 bce Drusus took the army of Germania Superior on an expedition to crush the Sicambri, Frisii, and Chauci tribes to the north. He was able to force the tribes to surrender before year’s end, and some sources suggest that he…

Guinea: Relief: Upper Guinea is composed of the Niger Plains, which slope northeastward toward the Sahara. The flat relief is broken by rounded granite hills and outliers of the Fouta Djallon. Composed of granite, gneiss, schist (crystalline rock), and quartzite, the region has an average elevation of…

Harz: …highland is known as the Oberharz; the southeastern and more extensive part is the Unterharz. The Brocken group, dividing the two, is generally considered a part of the Oberharz.

Animikie Series, division of Precambrian rocks and time in North America (the Precambrian occurred from 3.96 billion to 540 million years ago). The Animikie Series, the uppermost division of the Huronian System, overlies rocks of the Cobalt Series. The Animikie Series was named for exposures along

Upper Hutt, city, southern North Island, New Zealand. It lies in the Hutt River valley near Wellington. Founded in 1848, it is part of the larger Hutt area named for Sir William Hutt, an original shareholder in the New Zealand Company, which pioneered the region in 1840. Upper Hutt is for the most

Iraq: Iraq from 1055 to 1534: …subdivided into three political spheres: Upper Iraq, centred on the town of Mosul; Middle Iraq, or the area around Baghdad; and Lower Iraq, whose major centres were the towns of Al-Ḥillah, Wāṣit, and Basra. Upper Iraq had strong political ties to the provinces of Diyār Bakr and Diyār Rabīʿah in…

jaw: The upper jaw is firmly attached to the nasal bones at the bridge of the nose; to the frontal, lacrimal, ethmoid, and zygomatic bones within the eye socket; to the palatine and sphenoid bones in the roof of the mouth; and at the side, by an…

Azerbaijan: Relief, drainage, and soils: The Upper Karabakh Canal, 107 miles (172 km) long, provides a vital link between the Aras River and the Mingäçevir Reservoir on the Kura River. The reservoir has a surface area of 234 square miles (606 square km) and a maximum depth of 246 feet (75…

Azerbaijan: Relief, drainage, and soils: The Upper Karabakh Canal, 107 miles (172 km) long, provides a vital link between the Aras River and the Mingäçevir Reservoir on the Kura River. The reservoir has a surface area of 234 square miles (606 square km) and a maximum depth of 246 feet (75…

Africa: Continental formations: In the upper Karoo System of subequatorial Africa, formed during the early Triassic Period, the Beaufort Series contains fossils of fish, amphibians, and reptiles. The final stages of the Triassic and the early Jurassic periods were characterized by the terminal folding of the Cape mountain chain, by…

Africa: Continental formations: In the upper Karoo System of subequatorial Africa, formed during the early Triassic Period, the Beaufort Series contains fossils of fish, amphibians, and reptiles. The final stages of the Triassic and the early Jurassic periods were characterized by the terminal folding of the Cape mountain chain, by…

arm, in zoology, either of the forelimbs or upper limbs of ordinarily bipedal vertebrates, particularly humans and other primates. The term is sometimes restricted to the proximal part, from shoulder to elbow (the distal part is then called the forearm). In brachiating (tree-swinging) primates the

Lorraine: History: …into two parts, the southern Upper Lorraine and the northern Lower Lorraine, with their boundary running from a point on the Rhine north of Andernach westward and southwestward to a point on the Meuse north of Mézières. Lower Lorraine thus included most of the historic Netherlands belonging to the German…

Lough Erne: …lake consists of the shallow Upper Lough Erne, 12 miles (19 km) long, and Lower Lough Erne, 18 miles (29 km) long, linked by a 10-mile (16-kilometre) strait that is part of the River Erne. The lakes lie in an almost level carboniferous limestone plateau. Although formed by the solution…

Lusatia: …being transferred to Prussia and Upper (northern) Lusatia remaining under the rule of Saxony. Lower Lusatia was subjected to an intensive Germanization campaign by Prussia, and its western section was completely Germanized and the number of Sorbian speakers greatly reduced. The eastern section experienced a similar process after 1871. The…

Earth: The interior of Earth: …marks the top of the upper mantle, as mentioned above. This transition area is called the Mohorovic̆ić discontinuity, or Moho. Most basaltic magmas are generated in the upper mantle at depths of hundreds of kilometres. The upper mantle, which is rich in the olivine, pyroxene, and silicate perovskite minerals, shows…

United States: The Midwest: …subregions are readily discerned, the Upper and Lower Midwest. They are separated by a line, roughly approximating the 41st parallel, that persists as far west as Colorado in terms of speech patterns and indicates differences in regional provenance in ethnic and religious terms as well. Much of the Upper Midwest…

muscle disease: Upper motor neuron disease: Muscle weakness typical of upper motor neuron disease is seen in stroke, producing weakness of one side of the body. The arm is typically flexed, the leg is extended, and the limbs have increased tone. Some movement may be preserved, although…

Kush, the southern portion of the ancient region known as

Mount Olympus, mountain peak, the highest (9,570 feet [2,917 metres]) in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Gulf of Thérmai (Modern Greek: Thermaïkós) of the Aegean Sea and lies astride the border between Macedonia (Makedonía) and Thessaly (Thessalía). It is also designated as Upper

Palatinate: …or Lower, Palatinate and the Upper Palatinate. The Rhenish Palatinate included lands on both sides of the middle Rhine River between its Main and Neckar tributaries. Its capital until the 18th century was Heidelberg. The Upper Palatinate was located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as…

Çatalhüyük: …interest for their link with Upper Paleolithic art.

Itaipú Dam: …hollow gravity dam on the Alto (Upper) Paraná River at the Brazil-Paraguay border. It is located north of the town of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

Michigan: …“Big Mac,” the 5-mile (8-km) Mackinac Bridge across the Straits of Mackinac, which separate Lake Michigan on the west from Lake Huron on the east. Between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, in the southeast, the Lower Peninsula is separated from the Canadian province of Ontario by Lake St. Clair and…

history of the Low Countries: Upper Paleolithic (35,000–10,000 bp): Aurignacian, Gravettien (upper Perigordian), and Magdalenian assemblages found in the Ardennes caves represent the northernmost fringes of the inhabited zone of Europe until about 13,000 bp. The open site of Maisières Canal in Hainaut province, Belgium, is exceptional for its preservation of glacial fauna (from about…

Bolivia: Early period: …Andean area, known then as Charcas or Upper Peru, was one of the wealthiest and most densely populated centres of the Spanish empire. Its mines were supplied with mitas (conscripted groups) of Indian labourers from throughout the Andes, and by the mid-17th century Potosí’s population had reached some 160,000—a size…

Tarantian Stage, last of four stages of the Pleistocene Series, encompassing all rocks deposited during the Tarantian Age (126,000 to 11,700 years ago) of the Pleistocene Epoch in the Quaternary Period. The name of this interval is derived from the European regional stage of the same name. No

Rhine River: Physiography: The Vorderrhein emerges from Lake Toma at 7,690 feet (2,344 metres), near the Oberalp Pass in the Central Alps, and then flows eastward past Disentis to be joined by the Hinterrhein from the south at Reichenau above Chur. (The Hinterrhein rises about five miles west of…

United States: The problem of the West: The term Upper Rio Grande region was coined to denote the oldest and strongest of the three sectors of Hispanic-American activity in the Southwest, the others being southern California and portions of Texas. Although covering the valley of the upper Rio Grande, the region also embraces segments…

Azerbaijan: Relief, drainage, and soils: The Upper Shirvan Canal, the second most important canal, is 76 miles (122 km) in length and also irrigates about 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares).

Opolskie: History: …the duchy of Opole-Racibórz (Upper Silesia). During the rule of the “Silesian Henries” (1202–41), a number of Germans settled in the duchy of Opole-Racibórz. It was a time of economic prosperity, and Opole, Nysa, and Brzeg developed as trade centres. In the 14th century the duchy of Opole-Racibórz split…

Weimar Republic: Years of crisis (1920–23): Upper Silesia on March 20, 1921, an overall majority voted to remain with Germany. Therefore, Germany claimed that the whole area should remain German. However, in making that claim, it was disregarding the treaty provisions for partitioning the area according to the wishes of the…

Śląskie: Geography: The Upper Silesian Industrial District, centred on Katowice, is the largest conurbation in Poland, with a population of more than 3,000,000 at the beginning of the 21st century.

New Mexico: Plant and animal life: The Upper Sonoran Zone, comprising about three-fourths of the state and including most of the plains, foothills, and valleys above 4,500 feet, is a region of prairie grasses, low piñon pines, and juniper shrubs. At higher elevations, better stands are a result of more abundant rainfall.…

Slavic languages: Sorbian: There are two literary languages: Upper Sorbian, used around Bautzen (Budyšin), and Lower Sorbian, used around Cottbus.

United States: The South of the United States: The Upland South, which comprises the southern Appalachians, the upper Appalachian Piedmont, the Cumberland and other low interior plateaus, and the Ozarks and Ouachitas, was colonized culturally and demographically from the Chesapeake Bay hearth area and the Midland; it is most emphatically white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP)…

primate: Forest and savanna: …a middle story, and an upper story. The understory, consisting of shrubs and saplings, is often “closed,” the crowns of the constituent trees overlapping one another to form a dense continuous horizontal layer. The middle story is characterized by trees that are in lateral contact but do not overlap; the…

Kyiv: City layout: …the area of the ancient Upper Town, crowning the high bluffs of the Dnieper. Although largely of postwar construction, this central area retains its old street pattern, and most of the surviving historical and architectural monuments are located there. First among these is the cathedral of St. Sophia, now a…

Burkina Faso, landlocked country in western Africa. The country occupies an extensive plateau, and its geography is characterized by a savanna that is grassy in the north and gradually gives way to sparse forests in the south. A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960.

Burkina Faso, landlocked country in western Africa. The country occupies an extensive plateau, and its geography is characterized by a savanna that is grassy in the north and gradually gives way to sparse forests in the south. A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960.

China: Sino-Tibetan of China: The second is the western variant, also known as the Chengdu or Upper Yangtze variant; this is spoken in the Sichuan Basin and in adjoining parts of southwestern China. The third is the southern variant, also known as the Nanjing or Lower Yangtze variant, which is spoken in northern…

Upper Yosemite Fall, cataract on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite National Park, east-central California, U.S. It lies 150 miles (240 km) east of San Francisco. With a drop of 1,430 feet (436 m), it is one of the highest waterfalls in the world and is one of the park’s most scenic

International Monetary Fund: Financing balance-of-payments deficits: …IMF loan, known as an upper-credit tranche arrangement, features an annual access limit of 100 percent of a member’s quota, quarterly disbursements, a one- to three-year maturity structure, and a three- to five-year repayment schedule. The IMF charges the same interest rate to every country that borrows from a particular…

climate: Upper-level winds: The flow of air around the globe is greatest in the higher altitudes, or upper levels. Upper-level airflow occurs in wavelike currents that may exist for several days before dissipating. Upper-level wind speeds generally occur on the order of tens of metres…

majuscule, in calligraphy, capital, uppercase, or large letter in most alphabets, in contrast to the minuscule, lowercase, or small letter. All the letters in a majuscule script are contained between a single pair of (real or theoretical) horizontal lines. The Latin, or Roman, alphabet uses both

boxing: Techniques: The uppercut is an upward blow delivered from the direction of the toes with either hand. The straight right or left is thrown at shoulder level with the back hand, usually as a follow-up to a jab from the other hand.

Uppingham, town (parish) in the unitary authority and historic county of Rutland, east-central England. The town is noted for its 16th-century houses and its public (independent secondary) school. It came into being as a market town and is located in what is still a predominantly agricultural area.