Measurement of the damping of nuclear shell effect in the doubly magic   $^{208}$Pb region
  The damping of the nuclear shell effect with excitation energy has been measured through an analysis of the neutron spectra following the triton transfer in the $^7$Li induced reaction on $^{205}$Tl. The measured neutron spectra demonstrate the expected large shell correction energy for the nuclei in the vicinity of doubly magic $^{208}$Pb and a small value for $^{184}$W. A quantitative extraction of the allowed values of the damping parameter $\gamma$, along with those for the asymptotic nuclear level density parameter $\tilde{a}$, has been made for the first time. 
P. C. Rout, D. R. Chakrabarty, V. M. Datar, Suresh Kumar, E. T   Mirgule, A. Mitra, V. Nanal, S. P. Behera, and V. Singh
nucl-ex