First, other programs are needed to make Arrow effective as an "upper-tier" defense system.

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But those that do rely on institutional support are seemingly falling further behind the upper-tier schools.

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On the downside, you do have to give up some of the more premium features like water-cooling or an upper-tier processor, but if you're looking to keep things well under the two grand mark, Computer Shopper says this one is about as good a bet as any.

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This would bring to six the number of Aegis platforms in Japan's inventory, giving it a considerable infrastructure to provide for an early and potentially highly effective anti-missile defense of the Home Islands by equipping these ships with both the lower-tier Standard Missile (SM) 2 Block IVA missile and upper-tier SM3 Block II missile as they become available.

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With their internal antennae, color displays, Bluetooth connectivity and digital cameras, these handsets "would be considered upper-mid-tier as recently as a year or two ago, " Greengart notes.

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Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire are all upper-level authorities in a two-tier system with district councils like Cheltenham, Tamworth, Wyre Forest and Stratford-on-Avon underneath them.

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Universal coverage is never as universal as its proponents want it to be, and it usually results in a double- or triple-tier system as the upper-middle classes flee.

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In those markets, however, Apple has to content with a new breed of smartphone competition that are driving the price points well below the mid- and upper tier ones that Apple tends to compete in.

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