Simon Companys year-end balance sheets follow.

At December 31	Current Year	1 Year Ago	2 Years Ago
Assets
Cash	$ 35,076	$ 41,000	$ 41,452
Accounts receivable, net	89,300	62,800	50,900
Merchandise inventory	113,000	83,000	59,000
Prepaid expenses	11,296	10,763	4,606
Plant assets, net	334,172	304,889	254,542
Total assets	$ 582,844	$ 502,452	$ 410,500
Liabilities and Equity
Accounts payable	$ 148,031	$ 86,613	$ 55,270
Long-term notes payable	111,766	117,875	92,535
Common stock, $10 par value	162,500	162,500	162,500
Retained earnings	160,547	135,464	100,195
Total liabilities and equity	$ 582,844	$ 502,452	$ 410,500

The company’s income statements for the current year and one year ago follow. Assume that all sales are on credit:

For Year Ended December 31	Current Year	1 Year Ago
Sales		$ 757,697		$ 597,918
Cost of goods sold	$ 462,195		$ 388,647
Other operating expenses	234,886		151,273
Interest expense	12,881		13,752
Income tax expense	9,850		8,969
Total costs and expenses		719,812		562,641
Net income		$ 37,885		$ 35,277
Earnings per share		$ 2.33		$ 2.17

(1-a) Compute days' sales uncollected.

(1-b) For each ratio, determine if it improved or worsened in the current year.