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The second most important cause of lung cancer after smoking is radon gas. Thus, the determination of indoor radon concentrations in residential buildings and workplaces is an important public health concern. The purpose of this research was to measure the concentration of radon gas in the offices of the Institute of Science and Technology and to evaluate the effective dose in the lungs and the risk of cancer. This study used Corentium's AIR THINGS digital radon detector to determine the radon concentration in sixteen ( 16) offices. The digital radon detector air Things of Corentium was placed in each office for a minimum period of one week and the concentration values were recorded every 24 hours. The values recorded in each office were the short-term average and the long-term average during seven days of measurement. The short-term radon concentrations vary between 5.286 Bq/m 3 and 192.714 Bq/m 3 with an average of 48.01 Bq/m 3 and those in the long-term were between 6.143 Bq/m 3 and 172.571 Bq/m 3 with an average of 52.46 Bq/m 3 . The measurements in office N˚6 and 13 were above the lower limit of 100 Bq/m 3 proposed by the WHO. The short-term and long-term effective doses in the lungs for offices N˚6 and 13 were above the "normal" background level of 1.1 mSv/year proposed by UNSCEAR-2000. The short-term effective dose in the lungs for office N˚6 was above the lower limit of 3 mSv per the ICRP-23 recommendation. The average number of lung cancer cases per year per million people was 15.

No abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the concentrations of heavy metals in landfill soils. The soils samples were collected in some selected landfill, at Ouagadougou. Determinations of heavy metal concentrations, calculation of contamination factor and pollution load index of heavy metal in landfill soil were undertaken. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to determine the concentrations of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg and Pb) in the soils samples. The results showed that the average concentrations of chromium, lead and zinc determined in soils exceed the limits recommended by AFNOR NF U 44-04 and the recommended values proposed by CCME. This study showed that the soils from landfill sites were polluted by heavy metal.

The study was conducted to evaluate the physic-chemical parameters and pollution aspect of landfill soils. The soils samples were collected in some selected landfill, at Ouagadougou. Determinations of heavy metal concentrations, physicchemical parameters, calculation of geo-accumulation index and statistical analysis were undertaken. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used to determine the concentrations of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, and Pb) in the soils samples. This study reveals that the studied landfill contribute to increase the concentration of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Hg and Pb) in soils. The pH KCl of the studied landfill soils were less than 7, which reflects the acidic nature of the landfill soils. The Landfills soils were classified between 'practically uncontaminated', 'Uncontaminated to Moderate' and 'Moderate'. The geoaccumulation of Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and As were less than one for the studied landfills. The classifications show that the landfill soil from KARPALA and DAGNOIN were the moderate polluted with Cu, Zn and Pb. The Cu, Zn and Pb were metal that contribute more in the pollution in the landfill soil at Ouagadougou. Statistical study reveals that increasing total organic matter tends to decrease the concentrations of manganese, zinc, copper and lead.