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A systematic study of the change in proton single-particle occupancies in two neutrinoless double beta decay candidates, 130Te to 130Xe and 136Xe to 136Ba, has been performed.Final states in 129Sb, 129I, 135I and 135Cs have been populated using the (d,3He) single proton removal reaction. The deuterons were accelerated to 101 MeV using the coupled azimuthally varying field and Ring cyclotrons at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics, University of Osaka. The outgoing ejectiles were momentum analysed using the Grand Raiden magnetic spectrometer. Absolute cross sections were measured for states up to 7 MeV in excitation. Transferred angular momenta were identified through a comparison of angular distributions with those calculated using the distorted-wave Born approximation. Spectroscopic factors were extracted from the experimental cross sections. In addition to the 0v2B decay candidates the reaction was also performed on 128Te, 132Xe, 134Xe and 138Ba as a consistency check. The occupancies of the nuclei were determined from the spectroscopic factors, the reaction model was normalised using a common normalisation factor across all targets. The change in occupancies between the 0v2B decay candidates and their daughters were then determined. The change in occupancies were then compared with those calculated by interacting shell model, interacting boson model and quasiparticle random phase approximation. This comparison showed that whilst the three theories were qualitatively able to reproduce the change in occupancies, quantitatively there are significant discrepancies. These are the same models that are used to determine the nuclear matrix elements governing the rate of 0v2B decay.

The change in the configuration of valence protons between the initial and final states in the neutrinoless double-β decay of Te130→Xe130 and of Xe136→Ba136 has been determined by measuring the cross sections of the (d,He3) reaction with 101-MeV deuterons. Together with our recent determination of the relevant neutron configurations involved in the process, a quantitative comparison with the latest shell-model and interacting-boson-model calculations reveals significant discrepancies. These are the same calculations used to determine the nuclear matrix elements governing the rate of neutrinoless double-β decay in these systems.

This paper examines the tradition in classical literature of writing about plagues, with particular emphasis on this tradition as it is handled by the Roman poet Ovid. Narratives in Greek and Latin which describe the attack of plague on a community, along with its physical, psychological and social effects, are traced from their origin in Homer's Iliad through Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Lucretius' On the Nature of the Universe and Vergil's Georgics to the plague at Aegina in Book Seven of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is demonstrated that by the time Ovid writes the Metamorphoses, the early first century AD, a recognisable convention has developed, incorporating certain elements common to all the preceding plague narratives, along with some that are common to several The conventional elements are shown to be of two types. On the one hand, there are conventional details, including plague as punishment and the collapse of social and religious custom arising from the plague's devastation. On the other hand, there are conventional uses of the plague narrative as a literary device. These include the use of a plague narrative to mark a major change of era, to establish certain key themes in the work as a whole, to establish important character relations, and to create a certain tone or mood. Once the plague narratives of his predecessors are examined, both individually and as part of this literary tradition, Ovid's Aeginetan plague is evaluated in terms of its detail and its place in the Metamorphoses. It is established that unlike the plague narratives of his predecessors, Ovid's has no significance to the work as a whole; it is inserted therein for its own sake as a convention. The details of Ovid's plague are then examined, and it is shown that Ovid's plague is thoroughly informed in content, vocabulary, syntax and style by each of the preceding plague narratives, and especially by those of his Latin predecessors in the tradition, Lucretius and Vergil. Rather than simply reproducing these elements of earlier plague narratives, however, Ovid generally exaggerates their essential features and embellishes them to the point of absurdity and grotesqueness. This is shown by several examples. It is argued that the resulting plague narrative therefore lacks the pathos and gravity of its ancestors. Its effect, rather, is amusing, witty, technically ostentatious, and parodic. It is concluded that in Ovid the plague narrative passes from convention to cliche.