Modern classification

English: Three-dimensional structure of cytochrome c (green) with a heme molecule coordinating a central Iron atom (orange). PDB id, 1HRC, Bushnell et al., “High-resolution three-dimensional structure of horse heart cytochrome c.” J Mol Biol. 1990 Jul 20;214(2):585-95. PubMed PMID: 2166170. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Biochemistry

There are large biochemical molecules found in all living things but they may not be identical. We can study the different molecules and determine the evolutionary relationships. For example Cytochrome C is a protein that is used in respiration so all organisms require it. However Cytochrome C varies between species.

So if you looked at Cytochrome C from 2 different species, you can compare the amino acids in the polypeptide.

• If the sequence of amino acids are the same, then the species must be closely related
• if the sequence of amino acids are not the same, then the species may not be closely related
• the more different the sequence of amino acids, in species are, the less closely related are the 2 species

Comparing a DNA sequence

• All living things will contain code for building protein
• you can therefore compare DNA sequence to classify species
• the more similar the sequence, the more closely related the 2 species
• We can compare DNA sequences to clarify or correct previous assumptions

So how were the 3 domains determined

• Eubacteria are very different from Archaea and Eukaryotes

Bacteria differ from eukaryotes:

• different flagella and enzymes
• no proteins located on genetic material
• different method of DNA replication

Both Archaea and Eukaryotes share:

• similar enzymes to build DNA (RN
  A polymerase
• similar method of DNA replication
• both proteins bound to DNA

Budgets and the importance of Cash flow

A budget is an agreed plan establishing in numerical or financial terms the policy to be persued and the possible outcome of that policy. There are 3 types of budget that is often used by businesses….

• Income budget: Is the planned income into the business over a period of time
• Expenditure Budget: is the planned expenditure by a business over a period of time
• Profit Budget: Is the planned minimum amount of profit made by a business over a period of time

There are benefits and draw-backs of using budgets, these include

Benefits of budgets

• to establish priorites and to indicate the level of importance attached to a particular policy or division
• to provide direction and coordination and ensure that the spending is geared towards the firms aims
• to assign responsibility by identifying the person who is resonsible for the success/failure
• To motivate employees by giving them targets to work towards so they would greater responsibility and recognition when they meet their targets
• to improve efficiency by investigating the reasons for failiure and success
• to encourage forward planning by studying possible outcomes

Drawbacks of using Budgets

• a budget that is set to generously may encourage inefficiency, this will demotivate staff and hinder progress through a lack of money
• external factors outside the budget holders control may affect their ability to stick to a plan
• poor communication can be a problem as it would mean that people would not understand each other or the area in question and also other factors that might influence the budgets

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Budgetary control is important to the business as it is the establishement of the budget and the continuous comparisons of actual  and budgeted results in order to ascertain variances from the plan and to provide a basis for revision of the objective or strategy. A Variance is the difference between th planned budget and the actual budget. If the variance is poor, such as higher fixed costs or lower sales, then it as an adverse variance. Whereas if the budget is good, such as higher sales and lower fixed costs, then it is known as a favourable variance. By identifying what type of variance it is, it can allow a business to identify responsibility and take appropriate action. If its an adverse variance, then providing the factor that caused the adverse variance is under the firms control- they can then consider taking alternative approaches. Favourable variances can be used to identify efficient methods that can be adopted elsewhere in the company.

Variances can be caused by changes in-

• storage and wastage of material
• quality of material
• cost of material
• morale and efficiency of staff
• effiiciency changes
• wages

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Improving Cash flow

Cash flow management means that there is careful control of cash in theshort term in order to ensure liquidity. A business that is making losses will fail. But even a business that is profitable can still go out of business as they may have a poor cash flow, therefore would not have any cash to pay their creditors. My making a cash flow forecast it can also allow firms to identify possible problems and take the appropriate actions. Causes of cash-flow problems could include

• over investment in fixed assets, leaving no money to pay the bills
• overtrading by producing too many goods and running out of cash
• credit sales will worsen the cash flow as it would increase sales, increase the variable costs but you will not have the money to pay for it until a later date
• stockpiling means that you would have to many assets tied up in stocks
• changing tastes as products may no longer sell
• Management errors can mean that poor market research or budgetary errors can lead to cash shortages.

There are various ways of improving the cash flow of a business

Bank overdraft

Pros

• easy to organise
• flexible
• cheaper than a loan as interest is only paid on the amount overdrawn

cons

• as its flexible it maybe difficult to budget accurately
• the rate of interest charged is usually higher than the overdraft compared to a short term loan

Short term bank loan

• fixed interest rate, so simpler to budget
• rate of interest is usually less on the bank loan compared to an overdraft
• can be set up for a significant period of time so to suit the needs of the business

cons

• interest is paid on the whole of the sum borrowed, if the business can pay the loan earlier then a loan penalty maybe charged
• collateral will need to be provided

Debt factoring

• improved cash flow in the short term
• administration costs are lower because the factoring company chases any bad debts
• there is a reduced risk of bad debts

cons

• business will lose some revenue
• factoring company will charge more compared to a loan
• customers may prefer to deal directly with the business that sold them the product

sales of assets

• can raise alot of money
• getting rid of unused assets can reduce costs

cons

• can be hard to sell quickly
• fixed assets are used to produce goods that can be sold to create profit

sale and leaseback of assets

• overcome cash flow problem by providing an immediate inflow of money
• fixed costs can be reduced
• still have access to the asset

cons

• rent paid is likely to exceed the sum recieved, eventually
• firm owns fewer assets, so less collateral
• asset is gone when the lease ends

A firm could also improve their cash flow by…..

• diversifying its product portfolio
• anticipating change better
• setting aside a contigency fund
• controlling stock carefully to reduce the costs incurred in holding to much

Naming living things

 

 

Digitally improved version of Alexander Roslin’s painting of Carl von Linné. This particular version has had dust and missing specs of paint deleted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

The Binomal system was developed by Carl Linnaeus and uses 2 names (Genus and species in Latin), before this people had used a common name, but this was a problem because…..

• same organisms have different names in different parts of the country
• different common names are used in different countries
• translation of languages or dialects may give different names
• the same common name maybe used for different species in different parts of time world

Thats why Latin is used, it is a universal language, so whenever a species is given its name, it is given its universal name (in Latin) as to avoid confusion

Binomal is the GENUS and species= the first letter of the genus is always capital and the first letter of the species should always be lower case.

We can identify organisms using a Dichotomous Key, as it involves a series of questions with 2 alternative answers, usually yes or no, this leads you to the next question until you can identify the specimen. A good key will have fewer questions than the number of specimens

 

The five kingdoms and classifying living things

Traditionally, all living things have been grouped into kingdoms. For many years, things for either grouped as plants or animals. As more and more living things are discovered and studied closely, the number of kingdoms has gone from 2 to 5.

So lets look at the five kingdoms.

Kingdom Animalia: 

• eukaryotes
• multicellular
• have heterotrophic nutrition
• have fertilised eggs that develop into a ball of cells called blastula
• are usually able to move around

Kingdom Plantae

• eukaryotes
• multicellular
• have a cell wall made of cellulose
• provide multicellular embryos from fertilised eggs
• heterotroph nutrition

Kingdom Fungi

• eukaryotes
• cell wall made of chitin
• have a mycelium, which consists of Hyphae
• have a cytoplasm that is multinucleate
• are mostly free living and saprophytic

Kingdom Prokaryote

• have no nucleus
• respire using mesosomes
• have a loop of naked DNA
• no membrane bound organelles
• have smaller ribosomes compared to other kingdoms
• have cells that are smaller than eukaryotes
• may be free living or parasitic
• some cause disease

Kingdom Protoctista

• are eukaryotes
• are mostly singled cells
• show a variety of forms
• show animal features
• show plant like features
• are mostly free living
• some have autotrophic nutrition
• some have heterotrophic nutrition

Classification and taxonomy

Some key terms that would help:

Biological classification is the process of sorting living things into groups, it can either be natural or artificial.

Taxonomy is the study of differences between species

phylogeny is the evolutionary relationships between organisms

natural vs artificial classification

natural classification is where we group things according to how closely related they are, so that it reflects the evolutionary relationships, Artificial classification is where we group thinsg for our convenience, for example grouping plants by the colour of their flower

Taxonomy and Species

A species is a group of individual organisms that are very similar in appearance, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and genetics

How does a hierarchy lead to an evolutionary tree?

As all members of a species are similar, we know they will be closely related, also different species that are similar, will also be closely related, we can now group these closely related groups into larger groups and now start to build a series of ranked groups known as a hierarchy

Phylogeny

This is seen in the evolutionary tree and is the basis for natural classification, the tree can be for all organisms or just a few, modern classification now addresses the evolutionary distance between species.

All living things belong to an evolutionary tree, which therefore means that any 2 species alive today would have at some stage had a common ancestor. These two species then evolved separetely, which is shown through the branch on the tree. The more recent the common ancestor, the more closely related the species are.

Humans and gorillas can be described as monophyletic, which means that they share a common ancestor in the recent past that belongs to the same phylogenetic group.

Biodiversity and sampling

• Biodiversity is the variety of organisms living in an area
• Species are a group of similar organisms, that can have similar anatomy,physiology,genetics,appearance, bio-chemistry
• A habitat is a place where organisms live

You need to observe all the species present in a habitat to measure the biodiversity, this can be done by counting the amount of species present and how many of each species are present. The abundance of species is known as species richness and the variety of species presence is known as the species evenness.

The coral reefs in Australia has a lot of Biodiversity

Sampling plants

You need to randomly choose the position of where you take your samples inside the habitat. It can be done in 3 ways, for example:

• take samples at regular distances across the habitat
• use random numbers, generated by a computer or a random number table to plot co-ordinates within the habitat
• select co-ordinates from a map of the area and use a portable global positioning satellite system to find the exact position inside the habitat

The amount of samples you take will depend on the time you have and the size of the habitat, you need to also take into account how diverse the habitat is.

There are different ways that plants can be sampled as listed below:

Using random quadrats

• its a square frame used to define a sample area
• you can place the quadrats at random in the habitat
• place the quadrat on the co-ordinates generated from the random numbers
• then you identify the plants found within that frame
• then you measure the abundance of plant species in one of 3 ways

A quadrat sample device, used to measure the percentage cover of certain grasses. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Abundance scale

• Abundant
• common
• frequent
• obvious
• rare

Estimate the percentage cover

Point frame

• record any plants touching the needles
• if the frame has 10 needles, use it 10 times
• you will have 100 readings
• therefore with a point frame with 10 needles and 10 samples every time a plant touches a sample it has 1% coverage
• as one needle may touch several plants, it is possible to have greater than 100% coverage

Using a transect

• take rope or tape measure across the habitat
• take samples across the line
• larger habitats use a line transect
• and record the plants that touch the line at several intervals along it
• you can place quadrats along the set intervals
• using a quadrat gives an interrupted belt transect which makes it a quantitative measure
• they are good for awkward shaped habitats
• and for habitats that change over distance

Sampling animals

There are things that need to be considered when sampling for animals. Such as

• Do animals move
• how large are they
• how large is the  population likely to be
• where do they live
• will the animal’s habitat be disturbed

The best technique usally is to either catch or trap , however you would not do it to large animals as they would be observed. Therefore you should estimate the numbers from the trapped organisms or estimate their numbers from what they leave behind…..

Animal dropppings are often looked at when sampling animals….

Catching animals can be done in many ways, examples of these methods include:

sweep netting

• sweep net through vegetation
• animals caught in net
• empty contents onto white sheets
• take care as animals crawl away
• can also use a pooter

 collecting from trees

• a net is swept through the tree
• spread a white sheet under the tree to collect the small animals that are dislodged
• must be quick to identify

pitfall traps

• Set below surface of the soil
• any animals moving through the leaf litter will fall into the trap
• trap should contain water or scrucned up paper to stop animal from crawling out

tullgren funnels

• collects small animals from leaf litter
• place leaf litter in a funnel
• the light drives animals downwards
• animals are collected in the collecting pot

Light trap

• UV light attracts insects
• under the light is the collecting vessel
• contains alcohol

You need to be aware of the mark and recapture method, the formula for this is:

Total population = (C1 x C2)/C3

C1 = no. caught on the 1st occasion

C2 = no. caught in the 2nd occasion

C3 = no. recaptured

We need to sample the habitat to determine what effect human acitvity is having on the habitat. Environment impact assessment reports also sample the habitat and hey are essential to the development in habitats.

Assessing the success of Business start ups

The objectives of the business start up will vary from business to business and will depend on what the owner wanted to achieve. For example some objectives maybe

• to gain more freedom at work
• to make money
• to grow the business
• to sustain a going concern such as the family business
• to provide employment to the local community

Then we assess the business plan and base their progress on that, eg.

• what the business objectives are
• what product or service to provide and whether it can be produced and supplied profitabily
• customers needs and wants, which segment to target
• the possibility of competiton and an appropriate pricing and selling strategy
• raising finance for day to day operations and long term operations
• who will be involved, what they will be doing
• the risks involved
• products USP

Why can the start up’s be risky?

• poor cash flow management
• lack of effective plannin
• lack of effective market research
• lack of skills needed to run a business and lack of business training
• lack of finance to fund the business
• the actions of bigger competitors
• failiure to capitalise on good ideas
• difficulties in developing a a solid customer base
• unexpected changes in demand
• unexpected changes in cost
• delays in unavailability of supplies

Financial difficulties

• hard to raise initial finance to get started
• higher interest rates charged because of the high level of risk involved if a bank loan is given
• banks will want collateral

These financial issue can mean

• slow growth for the business
• threaten the survival of the business
• affect the productivity if the business
• affect the ability of the business to invest
• take up management time in seeking sources of finance
• raise costs

Possible ways of raising finance

Share capital

this is money given to the business in return for shares in the company. This allows the shareholders some ownership of the business or company and allows them to have a share of the profits

Benefits

• limited liability encourages possible investors to invest in the business
• not necessary to pay shareholders a divident if the business cannot afford it
• more shareholders means that there is more expertise
• increasing the share capital can make it easier to borrow from the bank, as the share capital can purchase more assets which can be used as collateral from the bank
• share capital does not need to be repaid so therefore there is less pressure

Disadvantages

• in profitable years, shareholders may expect dividents, this is more likely to be more expensive than an interest charged on a loan
• the original aims of the business maybe lost as new shareholders may not have the same values as the original owners
• as more shares are sold to raise finance, the original owners may lose control

Loan capital

Loan capital is payment made by a bank or an organisation in return for the borrowers agreement that an interest will be paid during the period of the loan within an agreed time. For example a bank loan is the sum of money provided to a firm or an individual for a specific purpose that is agreed upon

pros

• interest rates are fixed in advance, which therefore makes it easier to budget
• interest rates are normally because of the security provided
• the size of the loan and the period of repayment can be arranged  to meet the exact needs of the firm

cons

• the size of the loan may be limited by the value of the collateral provided rather by the amount of money needed by the business
• it is often difficult or costly to repay the loan early
• start ups are often charged higher rates of interest because they are unable to provide guarantees that the bank manager might like

Bank overdraft

This is where the banka allows the person to overspend its current account up to an agreed limit, for  a specific period of time

Pros

• extremely flexible so can be used for temporary cash flow problems
• interest is only paid on the amount of the overdraft being used
• useful for seasonal businesses
• security is not usually required

cons

• interest rate charged is usually higher than a bank loan
• banks can demand immediate repayment

venture capital

venture capital is finance provided to small or medium sized firms that seek growth, but may be considered risky by other share buyers or lenders

pros

• available to firms who cannot get finance from other sources because of the risks involved
• they sometimes allow interest or dividents to be delayed
• venture capitalist may provide advice and guidance

cons

• they may want a significant share of the business
• may want high interest payments or dividents
• they may exert to much influence, so the original owner may lose their confidence

Personal sources

These can also be used and is money owned by the owner or borrowed from friends. Benefits of them can include that no interest has to be paid and it enables the owner to maintain control over the business. However it can mean that there is an opportunity cost as the owner can lose their savings. And they may even not have enough to finance the start up.

Others

You could take out a mortgage which would allow you to raise some more money, the interest charged on these is usually quite low however if the business is unsuccessful then the owner may lose their property. Selling private assets  would allow you to raise some extra cash but it might not be such a large amount.

What type of finance you use will depend on your situation, for example

long term finance

• personal sources
• ordinary share capital
• loan capital/bank loan
• venture capital

medium term finance

• personal sources
• loan capital/bank loan
• venture capital

short term finance

• personal sources
• short term bank loan
• bank overdraft

The type of finance that is chosen will also depend on your situation, the following factors will be taken into consideration…..

• Legal structure of the business: PLC’s and LTD‘s will sell shares and partnerships and sole traders may rely on personal finance or some form of bank loan
• use of finance: the length of time that it takes the business to earn the money to repay the loan should match the length of time the business is given to repay the money
• amount required: more than one source maybe needed
• level of risk: venture capital maybe the best option if there is a high level of risk
• views of the owners:  Owners maybe reluctant to lose control of the business, so may not go for the share capital.

Market research

Market research is undertaken for descriptive, explanatory, predictive and exploratory reasons

Descriptive reasons

Th collection and analysis o data allows organisations to identify a number of important pieces of information. Such examples include…

• has the firm achieved its target sales figure?
• are sales rising or falling?
• is the trend stable or unpredictable?
• how are the firms sales performing relative to that of its competitor?

Explanatory reasons

Market research can help to explain why certain things occur, such as:

• what external factors affect demand?
• what are the main reasons why customers buy the product
• why was a promotional campaign unsuccessful

Predictive reasons

Information can be used to predict trends and find links between sets of data, this will help the firm to predict what will happen in the future, examples include:

• calculating the extent to which advertising effects sales revenue
• discovering whether introducing a new flavor will affect the sales of existing flavors
• predicting whether a new price will affect sales revenue

Exploratory reasons

For new businesses there is often no data to assist them. conducting market research can help to assess factors such as:

• the probable level of demand
• the most suitable segments to be targeted
• the ideal price level
• the best ways of promoting a product

Market research can either be qualitative or quantitative and be collected first hand for a specific purpose which has not been collected before (primary research) or data that has already been collected for a different purpose.

Benefits of primary research

• up to date
• specific for your purpose
• collects data that no other business will have
• Depending on the type of market research conducted it can also be very quick

However

• can be expensive
• can be difficult to collect
• can be bias, inaccurate or unrepresentative if the sample chosen is not large enough

Secondary research

• information is already available
• cheaper than primary research
• secondary survey’s are often conducted regularly

However

• information maybe dated, so could be misleading
• the data is available to other businesses, so less chance of an  advantage
• relevant data may not be available for the firm, for its purpose
• the data is collected externally, so maybe unreliable

Sampling

The larger the sample size the more representitive of the market segment and reliable the information collected will be more reliable. But having a larger sample would cost more whereas a smaller sample would decrease the costs but be less reliable and therefore less representitive. General problems with sampling includes:

• Samples maybe unrepresentitive
• they maybe bias in the questions asked
• it maybe difficult to locate suitable respondents

Different factors can also influence the choice of sampling method.

• costs and availability of finance: random sampling is cheaper as it does not involve careful planning of the sample before the survey is conducted.
• time: if quick results are needed then a random or quota sample should be used
• the importance of market segments: if buying behaviour is different between different types of customer then use quota or stratified sampling

Different sampling methods:

• Random sampling: a group of respondants in which each member of the target population has an equal chance of being chosen
• quota sample: a group of respondants comprising several different segments, each sharing a common feature. the number of people to be interviewed in each classification is fixed to represent the percentage of the target population but the interviewees are selected non randomly by the interviewer
• stratified sampling: a group of respondants selected according to their particular features, in stratified sampling the sub groups and their sizes are chosen specifically

Business plans

A business plan is a report describing the marketing strategy, financial implications and operation issues of a start up business

benefits of making a business plan include:

• to set clear objectives
• to help guide the entrepreneur towards strategies or actions needed to meet these objectives
• to persuade lenders to invest capital in a business by demonstrating why it is likely to succeed
• to help with the running of the business as the owners can look at the business plan to see how far they have progressed, so they can measure their progress
• to encourage entrepreneurs to plan ahead in a realistic way

So what does it contain?

• details about the business, name, location….
• personal information about the owner, CV,experience and financial commitments
• details about any support they are receiving
• details of staffing requirements
• the objectives of the firms and what it aims to achieve
• Marketing plan: Gap in the market, market research,type size and location of the market, description of potential customers
• production plan detailing how goods and services will be created
• details of fixed assets such as premises and equipment
• sales and cash flow forecasts
• projected profit
• details of the finance needed from the lender
• the collateral to be offered
• a brief account of the long term forecasts and plans of the business
• A SWOT analysis that examines how a business intends to build on its strengths in order to exploit opportunities and reduce weaknesses

Sources of information and guidance

• bank managers
• accountants
• business link
• the prince’s trust
• local enterprise agencies
• chambers of commerce
• trade associations