Browsing by Author | މުސައްނިފުން "Naila, Aishath"

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Article
Application of food preservatives and food additives in making Maldivian food products
(Maldives National University, 2021-07) Zuha, Mariyam; Shareef, Mohamed Simyaan; Naila, Aishath
Food additives play a huge role in food safety and development of various food products. Stabilizers are one of the food additives which help in increasing the stability as well as the viscosity of the food products. Stabilizers are found in almost all of the dairy products, desserts and many beverages. In addition, food colours are added to different types of foods to increase shelf life, visual attractiveness and to compensate for natural colour variations. Food dyes utilized in colouring mostly come from natural or artificial sources. The objectives of this study were to produce coconut ice cream using agar-agar stabilizer, conduct a sensory evaluation by a panel of 20 people using Likert scale to see the acceptability of the ice cream. Parameters like melting time and the presence of air bubbles were observed after freezing of the ice cream. Based on the sensory evaluation, for the overall acceptance of the ice cream a score of 9 was given. The results showed that it had a melt run of 130s/g and many air bubbles were formed before and after freezing. In the second part, a traditional Maldivian sweet known as “Ulhaali”was produced by adding beetroot extract into its key ingredient coconut honey or “Dhiyaa hakuru”, and ran a sensory evaluation of the product by a group of 15 participants, in terms of colour, aroma and taste, in order to draw a conclusion regarding the acceptability of the addition of the natural food colourant into the Maldivian sweet. Factors such as the colour retention was observed before and after frying. From the results obtained for the sensory evaluation, the product was highly accepted by the participants as all three descriptors received scores of 8.5 and above out of 10, and after addressing the limitations, the success of the study was rather high.
Article
Assessment of trans-fats in the Maldivian diet
(Research Development Office, The Maldives National University, 2022-12-01) Abdul Raheem, Raheemaa; Naila, Aishath; Ismail, Aishath Shaheen; Kasturi, Kamal; ރަހީމާ އަބްދުއްރަހީމް; އައިޝަތު ނައިލާ; އައިޝަތު ޝާހީން އިސްމާއީލް; ކަމާލް ކަސްޓަރި
Article
Editorial
(The Research Centre, Maldives National University, 2019-12) Naila, Aishath
Article
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the higher education sector of the Maldives: responses and challenges
(Maldives National University, 2020-12) Maldives National University; Research Team:; Ismail, Aishath Shaheen; Haleem, Hussain; Raheem, Raheema Abdul; Riyaz, Aminath; Nishan, Fathmath; Shakeeb, Shimna; Ali, Sheeza; Naila, Aishath; Rasheed, Mariyam Fizana; Ahmed, Nadhiya; Musthafa, Hawwa Shiuna; Sattar, Asim Abdul; Najeeb, Fazeel
This study was based on the objective of assessing the impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of higher education country-wide, including policy, academic affairs, management and financial responses, and psychological fitness of stakeholders within the higher education sector of the Maldives. The emergency response of the higher education institutions (HEIs) to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of their response on students, staff and the institutions were analysed by collecting data both quantitatively (stakeholder survey questionnaires) and qualitatively (stakeholder interviews). In total, 12 stakeholder interviews were conducted with higher education stakeholders, and 1187 survey questionnaires were filled by students and academic & non-academic staff of HEIs. The findings show adjustments that were made by HEIs and the challenges faced by the students, staff, and the institutions in transitioning to remote online teaching and learning. The HEIs in this study responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in three phases which were: 1) evaluating the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning of the HEIs; 2) planning for continuity of education during the pandemic; and 3) resuming teaching and learning virtually. To facilitate the remote online teaching and learning virtually, HEIs provided various support to their students; namely, technical support, academic support, and psychological support. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted all HEIs and their stakeholders financially. The main challenges faced by stakeholders during the remote online teaching and learning were found to be issues in internet connectivity, unsuitable home environment, and limited preparedness in the use of information communication technologies in teaching and learning. The findings of this study have implications for higher education institutions in continuing their teaching and learning activities during emergency situations and in future educational programs offered. Further, the findings are significant for higher education policy makers in the Maldives, namely the Ministry of Higher Education and the Maldives Qualification Authority, in the need for emergency preparedness and quick responses to ensure quality of higher education even in the face of a pandemic. 1. BACKGROUND Since December 2019, SARS-COV-2 VIRUS (COVID-19), a highly infectious disease caused by a new virus, has become a major disruption to universities around the world including the Maldives, with most institutions suspending in-person classes and moving to online-only instruction in the wake of this deadly virus. One recommendation made by the health authorities of governments across the world to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, was to maintain an appropriate physical distance between individuals. As a result, to minimize exposure of the students and staff to the COVID-19 virus, several educational institutions across 144 countries were temporarily closed impacting almost 68 percent of the world’s enrolled student population (UNESCO, 2020). The disease imposing mobility restrictions has particularly affected the tertiary education sector. The pandemic has significantly altered nearly every aspect of university operation including teaching and learning, admissions and enrolment to student support service, raising concerns over the quality of higher education provision during the emergency teaching period. According to the International Association of Universities, the total number of students and youth affected are more than 1.5 billion (IAU, 2020). In South Asia Region alone, over 42 million students in 50,000 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of 8 countries are affected by the pandemic (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). These concerns further extend to the financial future of higher education institutions in a time of financial instability, both in the form of unforeseen costs and potential drops in revenue. Students attending universities and other higher education institutions create a dense network through which infectious diseases can easily spread (Weeden & Benjamin, 2020). As such several measures were put in place by higher education institutions across the globe to secure the wellbeing of their students and staff and to make the disruption to their functions as minimal as possible. These measures were revised multiple times by many institutions as the situation unfolded, for health and safety of staff and students were their priority. Accordingly, the two main changes suggested by the European Association for International Higher Education include the offering of the courses on an online mode or deferring enrolment or the programme to a later term for student affected by the pandemic (EAIE, 2020). To prevent the spread of COVID-19 through their institutions, several HIEs chose to change the vast majority of their courses from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching mostly done online through digital technology. In the United States alone, more than 200 colleges and universities suspended classes and moved online (EAIE, 2020). Some universities that lacked the necessary Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure had to postpone teaching-learning activities until further notice (Policy Brief, 2020). In other universities, facilities such as libraries that closed initially, were later permitted to open with instructions to operate in a COVID-secure way (Higher Education, 2020). The sudden switch to digital technology was not easy. It also induced a lot of stress for the educators and students and made some feel overloaded with work. To ease them, some institutions suspended exams and strengthened the support services to students. Protocols and guiding documents to steer the students and educators through the process of the change were made (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). The switch to remote education after closing campuses was to ensure educational and research activities were carried on during the pandemic with minimal disruption. This step exposed not only the “digital inequity” of the community but also the shortcomings of the education systems. While access to digital technology and its devices were an issue to some, access to a reliable internet network was an issue to the others. The digital divide was huge even within communities and HEIs were faced with facilitating the means through which digital equipment for the needy staff and students can be arranged (South Asia: Higher Education, 2020). Training of educators in adapting to the use of technology and getting them acquainted with the new mode of teaching came with hurdles. These challenges required immediate attention so as to successfully conduct the remote learning sessions. HEIs had to formulate and run training modules for the educators on online teaching and assessing (Rashid & Yadav, 2020).
Article
Production of lip balm from stingless bee honey
(Maldives National Journal of Research, 2018-06) Yusof, Atuyah Athirah Binti; Ajit, Azilah B.; Sulaiman, Ahmad Z.; Naila, Aishath
India Cosmetics is used daily by majority of the people worldwide. Nowadays, consumer demand for natural based product cosmetics as they are safe to use and environmentally friendly. Lip balm is a cosmetic or lip care product whose purpose is to prevent dry and chapped lips. The quality of lip balm is directly linked with the basic ingredients used in the formulation. This work involved the formulation of lip balm from natural ingredients. Various composition of beeswax, shea butter, stingless bee honey, oils and colorant were studied to obtain the best formulation. Stingless bee honey was added to the lip balm formulation as moisturizing agent. The physico-chemical properties of the formulations were determined including melting point, stability, moisture content, color intensity, sensory test for human acceptance and microbial test. From the results, the formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter and oil with ratio 1:1:1 was the best formulation. It has high melting point and has stable condition in low and room temperature. The presence of honey in the formulation assisted to increase the moisture content in the lip balm. Besides that, for color intensity, natural colorant from fruit juice and extraction contributed the color to the lip balm but the color intensity was lower compared to powder colorant. Lastly, the formulation of lip balm from beeswax, shea butter and oil with ratio of 1:1:1 met the consumer acceptance as the highest sensory test score was obtained for this formulation.
Article
Salt content of processed food products available in Dh. Kudahuvadhoo, Maldives
(Research Development Office, The Maldives National University, 2020-12) Muneer, Aishath; Zoona, Fathimath; Naila, Aishath
Some of the processed food are junk food which are unhealthy when consumed in excess amount. Commonly used junk food include fast food, chips, candy, gum, sweets, desserts as well as fizzy drinks. These food types consist of salt, sugar, fat and are high in calories. Junk food are easy to make and are easily accessible for consumption making this the main reason people use junk food even though it is not healthy. Consumption of salty junk food regularly increases the amount of salt intake which is undesirable for a healthy life. High amount of salt intake increases blood pressure and other adverse effect to health. A market survey at Dh. Kudahuvadhoo grocery shops (5 shops) was conducted. A convenient sampling was used to collect 30 processed food products. Nutritional values of these products were recorded and analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2016. The salt levels in the products were compared to that of WHO recommended level of salt (< 5g/day). The highest amount of salt among the 30 items was found in Amexicana flour tortillas (2.6g salts per 100g). Cotton candy had zero amount of salt. The mean value of salt in the 30 types of food products was 0.324 g. The salt content processed food products varied, by types, production company, and the country of the production. Although the amount of salt was less than the WHO recommendation level in the selected junk food, daily meals, and intake in high quantity may lead to exceed the WHO recommended level of salt intake.