11.   Companies whose performance improves as rates decline, such as heavily leveraged utilities and banks like NationsBank Corp. benefited most.

12.   Companies whose performance improves as rates decline, such as utilities with large debt loads and banks, benefited most.

13.   Earlier this year, the IPO market had been strong as the stock market gained and small-cap stock performance improved.

14.   Experiments show that when people learn a new skill, their performance does not improve until after they have had more than six and preferably eight hours of sleep.

15.   He cited the Ka as one reason he expects European performance to improve.

16.   He said, though, that its trading performance had improved in recent months.

17.   He predicted performance would improve this year.

18.   He said he may sell the business if its performance does not improve during the next two years.

19.   Her performance may well improve her own ratings in the country.

20.   His classroom performance improved this semester, and in May the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse certified his Dutch grades, removing the final obstacle to freshman eligibility.