Category:Dimension

Scope

Dimension is such a property that can have specific values or locations and that can be used to discretise or conditionalise variables or assessments along these locations. This page describes such dimensions that effectively categorise the content of any environmental health impact assessment.

Definition

Each dimension should be useful for describing some important aspect of an assessment (or a part of an assessment).

Result

These dimensions should be included for environmental health impact assessments:

• Activity sector
  • From economic classification of e.g. gross domestic product
• Emission source
  • How does this differ from economic classification? Probably more concrete.
• Pollutant
  • From Goodman and Gilman
• Environmental compartment
  • Air, water, soil, flora, fauna
• Exposure route
  • Food, drinking water, ingestion (non-food), breathing, dermal contact, sensory
• Health impact
  • From ICD-10; mortality, morbidity.
• Non-health impact
  • Probably very diverse
• Decision
  • Very diverse, only criteria is that there is a decision-maker that can make the decision.
• Calendar time
  • Based on Gregorian calendar. Theoretically, this is just one example of Age dimension, where the reference point is fixed to a standard event (Jan 1, 1 AD).
• Age
  • Generally: time dimension based on a reference event defined in the assessment. Particularly: the event is the birth of a person under examination.
• Geographical location
  • Spatial dimension based on a standard reference point, e.g. longitude/latitude. Theoretically, this is just one example of Location from reference point, where the reference point is standardised (0°E, 0°N).
• Location from reference point
  • Spatial dimension based on a reference point defined in the assessment, e.g. location of the emission.
• Person or group
  • Any list of individuals or groups. Used for e.g. describing variability or roles of different groups.
• Sex
  • Male, female
• Species
  • Any animal or plant species. Used for food species as well as ecological assessments.
• Valuation
  • Any kind of list for different valuations. Especially useful for multiattribute utilities.
• Cost type
  • A list for different valuations that can be expressed in monetary terms.
• Step