An upward embedding of an embedded planar graph states, for ea h vertex v, whi h edges are in ident to v \above" or \below" and, in turn, indu es an upward orientation of the edges. In this paper we hara terize the set of all upward embeddings and orientations of a plane graph by using a simple ow model. We take advantage of su h a ow model to ompute upward orientations with the minimum number ...