2022 Matthew G. Karlaftis Best Paper Award
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29, Issue 4
The Journal of Infrastructure Systems proudly announces the Matthew G. Karlaftis Best Paper Award for 2022, in recognition of the contributions made by Professor Matthew G. Karlaftis, formerly of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and as a tribute to his memory.
The 2022 best paper award-selection committee consisted of two associate editors of the journal. The committee met in June 2023 and, after reviewing the 63 papers, technical notes, and case studies published in the four 2022 issues, selected for the award the technical paper “Integrated Modeling of Tap Water Perception and Consumption of Bottled Water: An Exploratory Analysis,” coauthored by Mohammad M. Hamed (German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan), Munjed Al-Sharif (German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan), Arwa W. Abdelhay (German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan), Mo’ayyad Shawaqfah (Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan), and Abeer Abu Othman (German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan) (https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000661) for its novel integrated approach for analyzing household perceptions of tap water quality and the factors that influence bottled water usage and consumption levels.
The work presented in the paper is motivated by the need to account for the perceived quality of tap water when formulating a demand model for bottled water consumption. The proposed framework uses state-of-the-art statistical and econometric methods to identify key determinants of perception levels and respondents’ decisions to use bottled water and to evaluate the perceptions of tap water quality through physiochemical testing of tap water samples. An important contribution of the paper is the inclusion of the output of the model for the perception of tap water quality (probabilities of satisfaction levels) as explanatory variables in the model for household consumption of bottled water. This demonstrates that the bottled water consumption model incorporates attitudes toward tap water. The presented work has several important practical implications, such as identifying possible threats to the public water systems and suggesting mitigation measures to restore public confidence regarding the safety and suitability of tap water as a primary source of drinking water. Further, the research can be useful in the development of tap water supply and pricing policies. The award-selection committee noted the paper’s high quality in terms of motivation, database development, and advanced statistical and econometric methodologies.
The award committee iterates that the papers published in 2022 in the Journal of Infrastructure Systems were of the highest quality. For this reason, the award-selection committee honorably mentions the technical paper “Pareto Efficiency Analysis of Private Toll Road Networks,” coauthored by Hang Shu (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois) and Pablo L. Durango-Cohen (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois) (https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000687), for its innovative approach to solve the problem of setting tolls and capacities in transportation networks serving single origin-destination markets, to better understand the effects of network structure and decentralized decision-making on their performance, and to identify potential areas for government intervention.
Matthew G. Karlaftis
Professor Karlaftis passed away unexpectedly in June 2014. He did extensive work in the areas of urban transportation, transportation planning and operations, and emergency response. He was a coauthor of an international best-selling book on transportation econometrics and statistics, two textbooks on transportation planning and public transportation, many book chapters, more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and many publications in conference proceedings, all highly cited worldwide. He participated in more than 45 national and European research projects as the principal or coprincipal investigator. He was deeply involved in editorial activities. He served as editor in chief for Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, European editor of ASCE’s Journal of Transportation Engineering, associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Infrastructure Systems, and an editorial board member for eight other journals. He was the recipient of the Fulbright Scholar Grant (2006–2007), the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2005), the TRB ABJ80 (now AED60) Committee on Statistical Methods Best Paper Award (2009), and the ASCE State-of-the-Art Paper Award (2011). He served on many technical committees and was a member of a variety of professional organizations and honor societies in Greece and the United States. He had a long association with the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, where he served as vice president (2010–2012) and president (2012–2014).
Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29 • Issue 4 • December 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 13, 2023
Accepted: Jul 20, 2023
Published online: Aug 30, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2024
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