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As children with autism spectrum disorder become adults, social participation continues to be an area of need. Within creative arts, there is a growing body of literature about the use of theatre arts, improvisational theatre, and improvisational techniques as a way to address social participation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this article is to discuss current literature related to the use of improvisation for individuals with ASD and how improvisation techniques can address social participation within occupational therapy practice. Recommendations for research-based strategies using improvisational theatre are described for occupational therapy practice in various contexts, as well as future areas of research.

The Olympic Dam iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG)-uranium-silver deposit (South Australia) is hosted in the large Olympic Dam breccia complex within the ~1.59 Ga Roxby Downs Granite. This breccia complex formed through multiple stages of hydrothermal activity and texturally destructive brecciation that affected the granite. The deepest diamond drill hole to date (RD2773, end at ~2,329 m) intersected weakly altered, in situbrecciated granite (~370-2,329 m) and a quartz-phyric felsic unit (~2,010-2,265 m). These two rock units host coarse-grained hydrothermal minerals, from ~2,150 m to the end of the drill hole. The main minerals in this assemblage are magnetite (± hematite), pyrite, fluorapatite, and quartz, with minor disseminated chalcopyrite, sericite, chlorite, rare earth element (REE)-fluorcarbonates, monazite, uraninite, thorite, galena, sphalerite, anhydrite, schorl, rutile, and pyrrhotite. The assemblage is cut by abundant multiphase veinlets and calcite (± fluorite ± barite) veins. A zircon U-Pb age for the felsic unit (1591 ± 11 Ma) implies that this unit is broadly coeval with the granite, whereas U-Pb ages for hydrothermal uraninite (1593.5 ± 5.1 Ma), fluorapatite (1583.3 + 6.5 Ma), and hematite (1592 ± 15 Ma) indicate that deposition of the U-REE-rich hydrothermal magnetite-fluorapatite-pyrite-quartz assemblage and replacement of magnetite by hematite occurred soon after emplacement of the granitic host rocks. Sm-Nd dating of ubiquitous calcite veins suggests formation at ~1.54 Ga. The deep ~1.59 Ga magnetite-fluorapatite-pyrite-quartz assemblage at Olympic Dam resembles those characteristic of iron oxide-apatite deposits and many other sensu stricto IOCG deposits. This study confirms that the ~1.59 Ga event involved significant and widespread IOCG mineralization in the Olympic Cu-Au province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Building upon the work of Richards et al. [1998. U–Pb dating of a speleothem of Quaternary age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 62, 3683–3688], we have developed a method for precise dating of speleothems beyond the range of the U–Th technique using the U–Pb decay scheme. By coupling low-blank sample preparation procedures and multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) analytical methodologies developed for low-level Pb-isotope analysis, we find that, under ideal circumstances (radiogenic speleothems with very low common Pb), U–Pb dating of speleothems is not only possible, but also produces excellent age resolution—often comparable to or better than U–Th studies. Corrections for initial isotopic disequilibrium are necessary and exert a strong control on the achievable age uncertainty. The technique will be of immediate benefit in extending speleothem-based climate proxy records beyond ∼500ka and will also find other uses, such as the dating of associated sub-fossil remains, and providing constraints on rates of landscape evolution and neo-tectonic processes. Here we present initial results for speleothems from the Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia, and the Alpi Apuane, Italy. The Nullarbor samples provide important new constraints on the development of aridity in Australia during the late Tertiary/early Quaternary, while the Apuane samples offer insights into the landscape history and uplift of that region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]