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"Harlan J. Smith at McDonald Observatory Harlan James Smith (August 25, 1924 – October 17, 1991) was an American astronomer. He served as director of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory from 1963 to 1989, where, among other accomplishments, he initiated the construction of the Harlan J. Smith Telescope, a 2.7-meter (107-inch) refractor now bearing his name . He came to McDonald Observatory as director in 1963, when he was also named chair of the University of Texas Astronomy Department in Austin, Texas. McDonald Observatory itself is located 440 miles west of Austin, in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. As head of the observatory, Smith's first major act was to obtain the funds needed to build the 2.7m telescope. Toward that end, he persuaded NASA the telescope was needed in support of space missions to the planets. The telescope brought new life to the observatory and helped recruit young faculty members, establishing McDonald as key player in the exploration of the solar system. In 1991, Smith received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal "for a lifetime of service to the astronomy and space communities." From 1966 until 1970, Smith was a member of the Committee on the Large Space Telescope, an ad hoc group formed by the National Academy of Sciences, the work of which resulted in the Hubble Space Telescope. He also was the chairperson of the NASA Space Science Board from 1977 until 1980, and there helped propose NASA's Great Observatories program. Smith was an enthusiastic proponent of educating the public on astronomy, and provided the support needed to develop the syndicated radio program StarDate. He also developed "The Story of the Universe", a series of educational films. He was also a proponent of international cooperation, particularly with China which he visited several times. He served as co-editor of the Astronomical Journal as well as acting secretary for the American Astronomical Society. Smith retired as McDonald Observatory's director in 1989. Afterwards, he served as the Edward Randall Jr., MD, Centennial Professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. Smith was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Paul and Anna McGregor Smith. While attending Wheeling High School he was named first runner up in the "Westinghouse National Science Talent Search". From 1943 until the end of World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, performing weather observation. Following the war he attended Harvard University, earning a B.A. in 1949. In 1950 he married Joan Greene, and by 1951 had earned his M.S. degree from Harvard. He began teaching at the astronomy department at Yale University in 1953, but still completed his Ph.D. from Harvard by 1955. During his career he studied variable stars, the radio emission from planets, as well as photometry and astronomical instruments. With Dorrit Hoffleit, he was the first to observe the optical variability of quasars, and discovered a class of variable stars known as Delta Scuti variables. Smith died in 1991 due to complications related to cancer. He was survived by his wife and four children, along with their grandchildren. Awards and honors * 1991 NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal * A professorship in astronomy at the University of Texas is named after him. * Asteroid 3842 Harlansmith is named after him. * The crater Harlan on the Moon is named after him. References External links * Harlan James Smith, 1924-1991 * Wheeling Hall of Fame * Obituary: Harlan J. Smith, 1924-1991, by James Nathaniel Douglas. Category:1924 births Category:1991 deaths Category:American astronomers Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Yale University faculty Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty "
"The sixth season of Smallville, an American television series, began airing on September 28, 2006. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. The sixth season comprises 22 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 17, 2007, marking the first season to air on the newly formed The CW television network. Regular cast members during season six include Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Erica Durance, Allison Mack, John Glover, and Annette O'Toole. Season six key story arcs involve Clark (Welling) trying to recapture several escaped criminals from the Phantom Zone, the destinies of Lionel (Glover) and Lex (Rosenbaum) following the aftermath of Lex's possession by Zod and Lionel's adoption as the emissary of Jor-El, and the introductions of DC Comics characters Jimmy Olsen, Oliver Queen and Martian Manhunter, played by Aaron Ashmore, Justin Hartley, and Phil Morris respectively. Other key storylines involve Lana and Lex's marriage, as well as Lex's secret 33.1 projects. Smallville's Season six slipped in the ratings, averaging 4.1 million viewers weekly. It was nominated for an Emmy Award, among other awards, in the category of Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series for the episode "Zod". Episodes Tie-ins In a promotional tie-in with Sprint, Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles was released. The six-episode CGI series chronicled the early life of Oliver Queen. According to Lisa Gregorian, Executive Vice President of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Television Group, these promotional tie-ins were ways to get fans more connected to the show. On April 19, 2007, a tie-in with Toyota promoting their new Yaris featured an online comic strip as interstitial programs during new episodes of Smallville, titled Smallville Legends: Justice & Doom. The interactive comic was based on the episode "Justice", which follows the adventures of Oliver Queen, Bart Allen, Victor Stone, and Arthur Curry—the initial members of the "Justice League" in Smallville—as they seek to destroy all of LuthorCorp's secret experimental labs. The online series allowed viewers to investigate alongside the fictional team, in an effort to win prizes. Stephan Nilson wrote all five of the episodes while working with a team of artists on the illustrations. The plot for each comic episode was given to Nilson as the production crew for Smallville was filming their current television episode. Artist Steve Scott drew comic book panels, which were then sent to a group called Motherland. That group reviewed the drawings and told Scott which images to draw on a separate overlay. This allowed for multiple objects to be moved in and out of the same frame. Awards The sixth season was awarded Leo Awards in multiple categories. Make-up artist Natalie Cosco was awarded the Leo Award for Best Make-Up for her work on the episodes "Hydro" and "Wither". The show itself won Best Dramatic Series; James Marshall won Best Direction for "Zod"; Caroline Cranston won Best Costume Design for her work on "Arrow", and James Philpott won Best Production Design for "Justice". The American Society of Cinematographers honored the series with an award for the work done on "Arrow", and with an award for Glen Winter for his work on "Noir". Mack won Best Sidekick for the second year in a row when she took home the award in the 2007 Teen Choice Awards. The series was recognized by the Visual Effects Society with a 2007 VES Award nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects in the episode "Zod". The VES recognized the season in 2008, nominating "Justice" for Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial. In 2007, the sound effects and foley teams were nominated for a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing for their work on "Zod". David Moxness won the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Award for his work on "Arrow". In the 33rd Annual Saturn Awards, the show was nominated for Best Dramatic Television Series, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Allison Mack. Home media release The complete sixth season of Smallville was released on September 18, 2007 in North America. Additional releases in region 2 and region 4 took place on October 22, 2007 and March 5, 2008, respectively. This was the first season to be released on Blu-ray Disc. The Blu-ray box set was released in the United States on September 18, 2007, and in Canada on October 9, 2007. Regions 2 and 4 received a release of October 13, 2008 and March 3, 2009, respectively. The box set included various special features, including episode commentary, "Ultimate Fan" featurette, a Green Arrow documentary, as well as mobisodes for the Oliver Queen Chronicles and Justice & Doom.Details from the back of the DVD box set. References External links * List of Smallville season 6 episodes at Wikia * * List of Smallville season 6 guide at kryptonsite.com * Official MySpace profile for Smallville Season 6 * Interview with the WWE's Kane 6 Category:2006 American television seasons Category:2007 American television seasons "
"The debt service coverage ratio (DSCR), also known as "debt coverage ratio" (DCR), is the ratio of operating income available to debt servicing for interest, principal and lease payments. It is a popular benchmark used in the measurement of an entity's (person or corporation) ability to produce enough cash to cover its debt (including lease) payments. The higher this ratio is, the easier it is to obtain a loan. The phrase is also used in commercial banking and may be expressed as a minimum ratio that is acceptable to a lender; it may be a loan condition. Breaching a DSCR covenant can, in some circumstances, be an act of default. Uses In corporate finance, DSCR refers to the amount of cash flow available to meet annual interest and principal payments on debt, including sinking fund payments.DSCR finance term by the Free Online Dictionary In personal finance, DSCR refers to a ratio used by bank loan officers in determining debt servicing ability. In commercial real estate finance, DSCR is the primary measure to determine if a property will be able to sustain its debt based on cash flow. In the late 1990s and early 2000s banks typically required a DSCR of at least 1.2, but more aggressive banks would accept lower ratios, a risky practice that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010. A DSCR over 1 means that (in theory, as calculated to bank standards and assumptions) the entity generates sufficient cash flow to pay its debt obligations. A DSCR below 1.0 indicates that there is not enough cash flow to cover loan payments. In certain industries where non-recourse project finance is used, a Debt Service Reserve Account is commonly used to ensure that loan repayment can be met even in periods with DSCR<1.0 Corality Debt Service Coverage Ratio Tutorial Calculation In general, it is calculated by: : \text{DSCR} = \text{Net Operating Income} / \text{Debt Service} where: :\text{Adj. EBITDA} = \text{Gross Operating Revenue} - \text{Operating Expenses} :\text{Debt Service} = \text{Principal Repayment} + \text{Interest Payments} + \text{Lease Payments} https://propertymetrics.com/blog/how-to-calculate-the-debt-service-coverage- ratio-dscr/ To calculate an entity's debt coverage ratio, you first need to determine the entity's net operating income (NOI). NOI is the difference between gross revenue and operating expenses. NOI is meant to reflect the true income of an entity or an operation without or before financing. Thus, not included in operating expenses are financing costs (e.g. interests from loans), personal income tax of owners/investors, capital expenditure and depreciation. Debt Service are costs and payments related to financing. Interests and lease payments are true costs resulting from taking loans or borrowing assets. Paying down the principle of a loan does not change the net equity/liquidation value of an entity; however, it reduces the cash an entity processes (in exchange of decreasing loan liability or increasing equity in an asset). Thus, by accounting for principle payments, DSCR reflects the cash flow situation of an entity. For example, if a property has a debt coverage ratio of less than one, the income that property generates is not enough to cover the mortgage payments and the property's operating expenses. A property with a debt coverage ratio of .8 only generates enough income to pay for 80 percent of the yearly debt payments. However, if a property has a debt coverage ratio of more than 1, the property does generate enough revenue to cover annual debt payments. For example, a property with a debt coverage ratio of 1.5 generates enough income to pay all of the annual debt expenses, all of the operating expenses and actually generates fifty percent more income than is required to pay these bills. A DSCR of less than 1 would mean a negative cash flow. A DSCR of less than 1, say .95, would mean that there is only enough net operating income to cover 95% of annual debt payments. For example, in the context of personal finance, this would mean that the borrower would have to delve into his or her personal funds every month to keep the project afloat. Generally, lenders frown on a negative cash flow, but some allow it if the borrower has strong outside income.Debt-Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) on Investopedia Typically, most commercial banks require the ratio of 1.15–1.35 times (net operating income or NOI / annual debt service) to ensure cash flow sufficient to cover loan payments is available on an ongoing basis. =Example= Let's say Mr. Jones is looking at an investment property with a net operating income of $36,000 and an annual debt service of $30,000. The debt coverage ratio for this property would be 1.2 and Mr. Jones would know the property generates 20 percent more than is required to pay the annual mortgage payment. The Debt Service Ratio is also typically used to evaluate the quality of a portfolio of mortgages. For example, on June 19, 2008, a popular US rating agency, Standard & Poors, reported that it lowered its credit rating on several classes of pooled commercial mortgage pass-through certificates originally issued by Bank of America. The rating agency stated in a press release that it had lowered the credit ratings of four certificates in the Bank of America Commercial Mortgage Inc. 2005-1 series, stating that the downgrades "reflect the credit deterioration of the pool". They further go on to state that this downgrade resulted from the fact that eight specific loans in the pool have a debt service coverage (DSC) below 1.0x, or below one times. The Debt Service Ratio, or debt service coverage, provides a useful indicator of financial strength. Standard & Poors reported that the total pool consisted, as of June 10, 2008, of 135 loans, with an aggregate trust balance of $2.052 billion. They indicate that there were, as of that date, eight loans with a DSC of lower than 1.0x. This means that the net funds coming in from rental of the commercial properties are not covering the mortgage costs. Now, since no one would make a loan like this initially, a financial analyst or informed investor will seek information on what the rate of deterioration of the DSC has been. You want to know not just what the DSC is at a particular point in time, but also how much it has changed from when the loan was last evaluated. The S&P; press release tells us this. It indicates that of the eight loans which are "underwater", they have an average balance of $10.1 million, and an average decline in DSC of 38% since the loans were issued. And there is still more. Since there are a total of 135 loans in the pool, and only eight of them are underwater, with a DSC of less than 1, the obvious question is: what is the total DSC of the entire pool of 135 loans? The Standard and Poors press release provides this number, indicating that the weighted average DSC for the entire pool is 1.76x, or 1.76 times. Again, this is just a snapshot now. The key question that DSC can help you answer, is this better or worse, from when all the loans in the pool were first made? The S&P; press release provides this also, explaining that the original weighted average DSC for the entire pool of 135 loans was 1.66x, or 1.66 times. In this way, the DSC (debt service coverage) ratio provides a way to assess the financial quality, and the associated risk level, of this pool of loans, and shows the surprising result that despite some loans experiencing DSC below 1, the overall DSC of the entire pool has improved, from 1.66 times to 1.76 times. This is pretty much what a good loan portfolio should look like, with DSC improving over time, as the loans are paid down, and a small percentage, in this case 6%, experiencing DSC ratios below one times, suggesting that for these loans, there may be trouble ahead. And of course, just because the DSCR is less than 1 for some loans, this does not necessarily mean they will default. =Pre-Tax Provision Method= Income taxes present a special problem to DSCR calculation and interpretation. While, in concept, DSCR is the ratio of cash flow available for debt service to required debt service, in practice - because interest is a tax-deductible expense and principal is not - there is no one figure that represents an amount of cash generated from operations that is both fully available for debt service and the only cash available for debt service. While Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) is an appropriate measure of a company's ability to make interest- only payments (assuming that expected change in working capital is zero), EBIDA (without the "T") is a more appropriate indicator of a company's ability to make required principal payments. Ignoring these distinctions can lead to DSCR values that overstate or understate a company's debt service capacity. The Pre-Tax Provision Method provides a single ratio that expresses overall debt service capacity reliably given these challenges. Debt Service Coverage Ratio as calculated using the Pre-Tax Provision Method answers the following question: How many times greater was the company's EBITDA than its critical EBITDA value, where critical EBITDA is that which just covers its Interest obligations + Principal obligations + Tax Expense assuming minimum sufficient income + Other necessary expenditures not treated as accounting expenses, like dividends and CAPEX. The DSCR calculation under the Pre-Tax Provision Method is EBITDA / (Interest + Pre-tax Provision for Post-Tax Outlays), where Pre-tax Provision for Post-tax Outlays is the amount of pretax cash that must be set aside to meet required post-tax outlays, i.e., CPLTD + Unfinanced CAPEX + Dividends. The provision can be calculated as follows: If noncash expenses (depreciation + depletion + amortization) > post-tax outlays, then Pretax provision for post-tax outlays = Post-tax outlays For example, if a company's post-tax outlays consist of CPLTD of $90M and $10M in unfinanced CAPEX, and its noncash expenses are $100M, then the company can apply $100M of cash inflow from operations to post-tax outlays without paying taxes on that $100M cash inflow. In this case, the pretax cash that the borrower must set aside for post-tax outlays would simply be $100M. If post-tax outlays > noncash expenses, then Pretax provision for post-tax outlays = Noncash expenses + (post-tax outlays - noncash expenses) / (1- income tax rate) For example, if post-tax outlays consist of CPLTD of $100M and noncash expenses are $50M, then the borrower can apply $50M of cash inflow from operations directly against $50M of post-tax outlays without paying taxes on that $50M inflow, but the company must set aside $77M (assuming a 35% income tax rate) to meet the remaining $50M of post-tax outlays. This company's pretax provision for post- tax outlays = $50M + $77M = $127M. See also *LLCR *Operating leverage *Project Finance References Category:Financial ratios Category:Commercial real estate Category:Credit "