Event Report | The 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards

Event Report | The 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards

The winners of the 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Award were announced by the Algerian Network for Academics, Scientists and Researchers on May 28th, 2016. The awards, administered by anasr.org through a peer-review process, recognizes the best academic research undertaken in Algerian universities. It is one of the main activities of anasr.org to promote and celebrate quality academic research in Algeria.

The announcement event was streamed online live, and witnessed the attendance of Algerian academics of high caliber from several academic institutions around the world. anasr.org was particularly delighted to have the announcements of this year’s winner made by Prof. Nourredine Melikechi of Delaware State University, Prof. Jamal Mimouni of Constantine University, Dr. Belgacem Haba of Google Data Center Platform, and Dr Ghania Ait-Ghezala of the Roskamp Institute in Florida, USA.

172 research articles have been nominated for this year’s award in five categories. The submissions went through a rigorous and a competitive selection process. After an initial short-listing of the top five articles in each category, the articles were reviewed by international experts. The award committee then selected the top articles based on the recommendations of the reviewers. The selection process and criteria were kept the same as in previous editions of the awards.

The submitted articles were very diverse, covering the breadth of the academic endeavour. The themes of the winning articles covered diverse topics too: particle detection and holography in Physics, bacterial infections in animal trials in Medicine, wireless security and cryptography in Computer Science, polymer synthesis and characterization in Chemistry and the effect of fruit vinegars on fat diets in rats in Biology. All explore fascinating and cutting-edge science.

The Algerian Paper of the Year Award is an initiative that is unique in recognizing and celebrating academic productivity. It is independent, run and sponsored by the Algerian academic community, and relies on an open peer-review process. The awards are particularly designed to strengthen the ties within the Algerian academic community inside and outside Algeria.

Honorary guests

Prof Nourredine Melikechi announced the winners of the 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards in Medicine, Pharmacy & Veterinary Sciences. Prof Melikechi is Professor of Physics, the Dean of the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology, and the Founding Director of the Optical Science Center for Applied Research, at Delaware State University in the US.

Prof Jamal Mimouni will announce the winners of the 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards in Physical Sciences & Mathematics. Prof Mimouni is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Constantine, he is also the Vice-president of the Arab Union for Space Sciences and Astronomy and the president of Sirius Astronomy Association which is working activity for 20 years to promote scientific outreach and culture in Algeria.

Dr Ait-Ghezala will announce the winners in Biological Sciences and in Chemical Sciences. Dr Ait-Ghezala heads the Molecular Biology and Genomic department at Roskamp Institute in Florida, USA. She is also the Head of Molecular Biology at Archer pharmaceutical were she leads a program focused on developing molecular and cell biology-based screening of small molecule inhibitors. She is also part of the open University of London PhD program in neuroscience

Prof Belgacom Haba will announce the winners in Computer Science & Engineering. Prof Haba is the CTO of Tessera Technologies, Inc. one of the top invention companies in Silicon Valley, Prof Haba also holds the highest number of patents in Silicon Valley exceeding 1000 and is one of the 100 inventors in the world. He holds a PhD from Stanford and has worked across a wide range of technology industries around the world, including Google, NEC and IBM

Winners and Honourable Mentions of the 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards

Biological Sciences

Winners

Title: Effect of fruit vinegars on liver damage and oxidative stress in high-fat-fed rats.
Authors: A. Bouazza, A. Bitam, M. Amiali, A. Bounihi, L. Yargui, and E. A. Koceir.

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order:

• Adjeroud Nawel, Dahmoune Farid, Merzouk Belkacem, Leclerc Jean-Pierre, Madani Khodir.
  Improvement of electrocoagulation–electroflotation treatment of effluent by addition of Opuntia ficus indica pad juice. Separation and Purification Technology 2015, 144;168–176.
• Sidi Mohammed Lahbib Seddiki, Zahia Boucherit-Otmani, Reda Ali Bettioui, Kebir Boucherit, Mourad Taleb, Dennis Kunkel.
  Nosocomial Fungal Infectivities: In Vivo Formation of Candida Biofilms on Catheters Surfaces. American Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2015, 2: 38-43.
• Fouzia Amamou , Saïd Nemmiche , Radjaa kaouthar Meziane , Amal Didi , Sidi Mohamed Yazit , Daoudi Chabane-Sari.
  Protective effect of olive oil and colocynth oil against cadmium-induced oxidative stress in the liver of Wistar rats. Food and Chemical Toxicology 2015, 78 ; 177–184.
• Imene Soufli, Ryma Toumi, Hayet Rafa, Manel Amri, Moussa Labsi, Lila Khelifi, Ferdinando Nicoletti, Chafia Touil-Boukoffa.
  Crude extract of hydatid laminated layer from Echinococcus granulosus cyst attenuates mucosal intestinal damage and inflammatory responses in Dextran Sulfate Sodium induced colitis in mice. Journal of Inflammation 2015, 12:19.

Chemical Sciences

Winners

Title: The synthesis, physicochemical properties, and electrochemical polymerization of fluorene-based derivatives as precursors for conjugated polymers.
Authors: A. K. Baghdouche, M. Guergouri, S. Mosbah, L. Benmekhbi, L. Bencharif

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order:

• Samiha Chaguetmi, Slimane Achour, Ludovic Mouton, Philippe Decorse, Sophie Nowak, Cyrille Costentin, Fayna Mammeri, Souad Ammar.
  TiO2 nanofibers supported on Ti sheets prepared by hydrothermal corrosion: effect of the microstructure on their photochemical and photoelectrochemical properties. RSC Advances 2015, 5; 95038-95046.
• S. Kermadi , S. Sali, F. Ait Ameur , L. Zougar , M. Boumaour , A. Toumiat , N.N. Melnik , D.W. Hewak , Anca Duta.
  Effect of copper content and sulfurization process on optical, structural and electrical properties of ultrasonic spray pyrolysed Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films. Materials Chemistry and Physics 2016, 169; 96-104.
• Abdellah Henni , Abdallah Merrouche , Laid Telli , Amina Karar.
  Studies on the structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO nanorods prepared by electrochemical deposition. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 2016, 763 ; 149–154.
• Amani Direm, Angela Altomare, Anna Moliternic, Nourredine Benali-Cherif.
  Intermolecular interactions of proton transfer compounds: synthesis, crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis. Acta Crystallographica 2015, B71; 427–436

Computer Science & Engineering

Winners

Title: A novel secure aggregation scheme for wireless sensor networks using stateful public key cryptography.
Authors: O. R. M. Boudia, S. M. Senouci, M. Feham.

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order:

• Mohamed Arezki Mellal, Edward J. Williams
  Cuckoo optimization algorithm with penalty function for combined heat and power economic dispatch problem
  Faculty of Engineering Sciences (FSI), Energy, Volume 93, Part 2, 15 December 2015, Pages 1711–1718
• T.E. Boukelia, M.S. Mecibah, B.N. Kumar, K.S. Reddy
  Investigation of solar parabolic trough power plants with and without integrated TES (thermal energy storage) and FBS (fuel backup system) using thermic oil and solar salt
  Energy, Volume 88, August 2015, Pages 292–303
• Zakaria Saoud, Samir Kechid
  Integrating social profile to improve the source selection and the result merging process in distributed information retrieval
  Information Sciences, Volume 336, 1 April 2016, Pages 115–128
• Amine Dahane, Abdelhamid Loukil, Bouabdellah Kechar, and Nasr-Eddine Berrached
  Energy Efficient and Safe Weighted Clustering Algorithm for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks
  Procedia Computer Science, Volume 34, 2014, Pages 63–70

Medicine, Pharmacy & Veterinary Sciences

Winners

Title: Macrophage Bactericidal Activities against Staphylococcus aureus Are Enhanced In Vivo by Selenium Supplementation in a Dose-Dependent Manner
Authors: M. Aribi, W. Meziane, S. Habi, Y. Boulatika, H. Marchandin, J-L America

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order:

• Ammar Amria, Susan Helen Pulkoc, Anthony James Wilkinson. Potentialities of steady-state and transientthermography in breast tumour depth detection: A numerical study. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 2016, 2 3; 68–80.
• Batoul Kaabi , Ghania Belaaloui, Wassila Benbrahim, Kamel Hamizi, Mourad Sadelaoud, Wided Toumi, Hocine Bounecer. ADRA2A Germline Gene Polymorphism is Associated to the Severity, but not to the Risk, of Breast Cancer. Pathology & Oncology Research 2016, 22; 357-65.
• Wafa Nouari, Lamia Ysmail-Dahlouk, Mourad Aribi.
  Vitamin D3 enhances bactericidal activity of macrophage against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. International Immunopharmacology 2016, 30, 94–101.
• Noel Hamza, Bénédicte Berke, Catherine Cheze, Sébastien Marais, Simon Lorrain , Abdelilah Abdouelfath, Regis Lassalle, Dominique Carles, HenriGin, Nicholas Moore.
  Effect of Centaurium erythraea Rafn, Artemisia herba-alba Asso and Trigonellafoenum-graecum L. onliverfataccumulationinC57BL/6J mice withhigh-fatdiet-inducedtype2diabetes. Journal ofEthnopharmacology 2015, 171; 4–11.

Physical Sciences & Mathematics

Winners

Title: Two beams two orthogonal views particle detection.
Authors: S. M. Azzem, L. Bouamama, S. Simoëns and W. Osten.

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order:

• S. Kaci, A. Keffous, S. Hakoum, A. Mansri
  Hydrogen sensitivity of the sensors based on nanostructure lead sulfide thin films deposited on a-SiC:H and p-Si(100) substrates, Vacuum, Volume 116, June 2015, Pages 27–30
• Bendouma Doumi, Allel Mokaddem, Fethallah Dahmane, Adlane Sayedee and Abdelkader Tadjer
  A novel theoretical design of electronic structure and half-metallic ferromagnetism in the 3d (V)- doped rock-salts SrS, SrSe, and SrTe for spintronics, RSC Advances Issue 112, 2015
• D. Meziani, K. Abdmeziem, S. Bouacida, M. Trari, H. Merazig
  Photo-electrochemical and physical characterizations of a new single crystal POM- based material. Application to Rhodamine B photo degradation, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
  Volume 147, April 2016, Pages 46–52
• Samra Nehaoua, Salim Houamer, Claude Dal Cappello, Mehdi Chinoune, Alexander Galstyan and Amulya Chandra Roy
  Effect of orthogonalization on total ionization cross sections by electron impact: application to small molecules, The European Physical Journal D
  March 2015, 69:86

Thanks and gratitude

anasr.org and its awards committee would like to thank all participants who nominated their papers for The 2016 Algerian Paper of the Year Awards, all those who participated in the shortlisting and reviewing panels, we would also like to thank our honorary guests and everyone who contributed to making this year’s edition of the Algerian Paper of the Year Awards a success

The original call for nomination, including details about the selection process and criteria can be found here

Committee for the 2016 edition of the Awards:

Dr. Ghita Kouadri-Mostefaoui, University College London, UK
Dr. Youcef Mehellou, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr. Oussama Metatla, University of Bristol, UK
Dr. Abdrehen Zoghbi, University of Michigan, USA

anasr.org core team and contributors

Dr Abderrezak Soltani
Dr Asme Romaissa Boussahel
Dr Oussama Metatla
Mr Sofian Otmani
Dr Youcef Mehellou