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Key characteristics of a whistleblower
The verb whistle-blowing refers to revealing the hidden actions of another individual or groups of people (mostly executives) of a company for wrong actions they perpetrate in the dark. A whistleblower is thus any person who exposes any information regarding illegal activity dishonesty, or correct activities within an organization. In many cases, whistleblowers are employees or ex-employee of a company (Green, 2004).. Among the essential characteristics of whistleblowers is that they are altruistically motivated. They do their actions to expose the truth so that a person suffering unfairly may get saved. Secondly, they are utilitarian. They serve to be useful rather than attractive. Thirdly, they are not interested in altering their behavior. They do what they do because they believe it’s the appropriate course. They, therefore, allow their attitudes and beliefs to drive them. In many cases, whistleblowers are well educated as only people with such wisdom can manage what they do. They are also aware that what they do is prone to danger and severe retaliation (Green, 2004).

Instance of whistleblowing
On the 11th of March 2016, two former students of Bard College revealed that the college officials were violating the False Claims Act that regards the federal grants and that which stipulates the use of Title IV student aid funds. These two whistleblowers had researched and found that Bard has for long received funds through the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program though they the college has not yet complied with the conditions of such grant. Bard was also allegedly reported to be awarding, disbursing and receiving Title IV student loan funds at campus locations though such were not yet recognized. They also did so without providing notice of the locations to the Department of Education. Such actions showed an infringement of applicable regulations and agreement with the Department of Education. The case is still not solved and until the Court decides the fate of the culprits, the effect of the whistle-blowing to the whistleblower and the institution’s heads may not be determined. However, the prospective effects might be the jailing or fining of the Bard College heads. More so, the court might decide to demote them. The whistleblower might face threats from those persons that they exposed (Newman 2016).

Justification of the whistleblowers’ reporting

In any case, the actions of the whistleblowers were justified. Any publically traded company or any government institution represents is there to serve the people rather than inflict pain or take the public’s money without their consent. The government takes a lot of taxes from the public which it uses to pay for the services of workers of public institutions. It is thus wrong for these few individuals to grab or siphon the money once more from the public funds. As a matter of facts, it’s only the whistleblowers who might find out such actions as perpetrators do it hidden. Their actions were thus justified as they saved the public from continued fraudulence (Green, 2004).

Extent to which the whistleblower would be protected under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was developed and passed by the U.S. Congress to guard shareholders as well as the general public from such things like accounting errors and fraudulent practices. It was also aimed at improving the accuracy of commercial disclosures (Green, 2004). Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act would protect the whistleblowers against harm by the Bard’s heads for providing information about financial fraud. However, the two had to show that an actual violation occurred. It would then protect them against retaliatory actions such as threats or discrimination.

In academics, plagiarism gets perceived as a crime that entails theft of another person’s work (often ideas or words in literature) and later presenting them as own. The documentation of another author’s work in your paper or article or book without acknowledging the original author gets viewed as an act of fraud. The copyright laws of the United States protect all forms of expression that have got recorded in some way including literature. This expression by an author, written or a songwriter gets considered as intellectual property that should not get presented elsewhere as own work, copied in any way and lack of or the wrong quotation. Plagiarizing as an offense attracts severe punishment and penalties in a majority of the academic institutions. However, this criminal act of stealing literature can get avoided through a few easy ways. First, scholars and learners should be creative as well as possess the habit of writing own original ideas. Second, an effective way of writing a plagiarism free paper is planning the paper in advance so as to develop adequately many own ideas and correctly add other people’s idea with required citations. Finally, citing correctly and obtaining the correct details of authors assists in avoiding plagiarism.

Another academic challenge experienced by a significant number of learners is succeeding in Mathematics. The learners have multiple troubles in Math that get attributed to poor approach to the subject at different academic levels. Below are Math study skills, guidelines for solving math problems and procedures undertaken in studying Math tests to ensure improved performance in Mathematics. Adhering to the Math Study skills can lead to better grades in Mathematics courses.

Effective Math Study Skills involve class attendance of all Math lessons as well as participating in the lessons. The student gains significantly by attending all Math classes as most professors, and lecturers teach Math examples hence allows the student to master formulas, concepts, and problem-solving techniques. It also offers the learner an opportunity to request for assistance in case they don’t fully understand a concept. Attending classes is also critical as most of the Math test questions get picked from the material that has got covered in classes. The Math classes in colleges and institutions are also significant as the material covered in each class precedes similar material in future classes (Hoyt & McGoldrick, 2012).

The other vital Math skill for a better understanding of concepts and formulas is the self-discipline of completing homework in post-high school institutions. Most of the time, the professors, and lecturers do not check whether the homework has got completed; however, the student should develop a habit of always completing them. It is vital for the student since undertaking assignments act as a self evaluation to identify what a student does not know. It also provides an adequate practice opportunity for the student.

Another vital Math skill is developing a habit of always requesting for assistance every time a student does not understand a concept well. The school setting provides different platforms where a student can get help such as asking the instructor during Math lessons or even at their offices. Another platform is asking fellow students in discussion groups or free time.

The performance in Math gets highly determined by the approach applied in undertaking Math tests. The following simple steps should get followed in Math tests for better grades. First, the student should look over the paper to have a glimpse of the length of the paper, to identify the questions to attempt and also plan their time effectively. The student should then attempt the questions, while carefully reading questions, showing clearly all their work and reviewing their answers.