The 13th Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics

Ngā mihi aroha ki ngā tangata katoa and warm greetings to you all. Welcome to Herenga Delta 2021, the Thirteenth Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics. It has been ten years since the Volcanic Delta Conference in Rotorua, and we are excited to have the Delta community return to Aotearoa New Zealand, if not in person, then by virtual means. Although the limits imposed by the pandemic mean that most of this year’s 2021 participants are unable to set foot in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, this has certainly not stopped interest in this event. Participants have been invited to draw on the concept of herenga, in Te Reo Māori usually a mooring place where people from afar come to share their knowledge and experiences. Although many of the participants are still some distance away, the submissions that have been sent in will continue to stimulate discussion on mathematics and statistics undergraduate education in the Delta tradition. The conference invited papers, abstracts and posters, working within the initial themes of Values and Variables. The range of submissions is diverse, and will provide participants with many opportunities to engage, discuss, and network with colleagues across the Delta community. The publications for this thirteenth Delta Conference include publications in the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, iJMEST, (available at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tmes20/collections/Herenga-Delta-2021), the Conference Proceedings, and the Programme (which has created some interesting challenges around time-zones), by the Local Organizing Committee. Papers in the iJMEST issue and the Proceedings were peer reviewed by at least two reviewers per paper. Of the ten submissions to the Proceedings, three were accepted. We are pleased to now be at the business end of the conference and hope that this event will carry on the special atmosphere of the many Deltas which have preceded this one. We hope that you will enjoy this conference, the virtual and social experiences that accompany it, and take the opportunity to contribute to further enhancing mathematics and statistics undergraduate education. Ngā manaakitanga, Phil Kane (The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau) on behalf of the Local Organising Committ

Identifying Species and Monitoring Understorey from UAS-Derived Data: A Literature Review and Future Directions

Understorey vegetation plays an important role in many ecosystems, yet identifying and monitoring understorey vegetation through remote sensing has proved a challenge for researchers and land managers because understorey plants tend to be small, spatially and spectrally similar, and are often blocked by the overstorey. The emergence of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is revolutionising how vegetation is measured, and may allow us to measure understorey species where traditional remote sensing previously could not. The goal of this paper was to review current literature and assess the current capability of UAS to identify and monitor understorey vegetation. From the literature, we focused on the technical attributes that limit the ability to monitor understorey vegetation—specifically (1) spatial resolution, (2) spectral sensitivity, (3) spatial extent, and (4) temporal frequency at which a sensor acquires data. We found that UAS have provided improved levels of spatial resolution, with authors reporting successful classifications of understorey vegetation at resolutions of between 3 mm and 200 mm. Species discrimination can be achieved by targeting flights to correspond with phenological events to allow the detection of species-specific differences. We provide recommendations as to how UAS attributes can be tailored to help identify and monitor understorey species

Reference site selection protocols for mine site ecosystem restoration

Reference site selection associated with mining and resource development requires a comprehensive approach so that stakeholders can be confident that restoration efforts have appropriate target ecosystems. Here, we present our process to select reference sites, within a savanna ecosystem, which will be used to develop and assess closure criteria and restoration guidelines for Ranger Mine (Northern Territory, Australia). The selection of reference sites followed five steps involving desktop and field methods. We recommend that restoration projects consider inclusion criteria, randomly select sites from areas matching the chosen criteria, conduct preliminary data analysis, estimate and update sampling effort and precession at several points throughout the project, and invite stakeholder feedback and revision of the process as often as required. This detailed approach appears to be the first to demonstrate how to use available data to reduce bias, address sampling effort and site selection quantitatively, involve stakeholders, and provide useful data which can be used to calibrate ecological restoration outcomes for savanna ecosystem

Evidence-based recommendations for the management of ankylosing spondylitis: systematic literature search of the 3E Initiative in Rheumatology involving a broad panel of experts and practising rheumatologists

Objective. Recommendations and/or guidelines represent a popular way of integrating evidence-based medicine into clinical practice. The 3E Initiatives is a multi-national effort to develop recommendations for the management of rheumatic diseases, which involves a large number of experts combined with practising rheumatologists addressing specific questions relevant to clinical practice

Therapy of human papillomavirus-related disease

This chapter reviews the current treatment of chronic and neoplastic HPV-associated conditions and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Surgical excision of HPV-associated lower genital tract neoplasia is very successful but largely depends on secondary prevention programmes for identification of disease. Only high-risk HPV-driven chronic, preneoplastic lesions and some very early cancers cannot be successfully treated by surgical procedures alone. Chemoradiation therapy of cervical cancer contributes to the 66–79% cervical cancer survival at 5 years. Outlook for those patients with persistent or recurrent cervical cancer following treatment is very poor. Topical agents such as imiquimod (immune response modifier), cidofovir (inhibition of viral replication; induction apoptosis) or photodynamic therapy (direct damage of tumour and augmentation of anti-tumour immunity) have all shown some useful efficacy (~50–60%) in treatment of high grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia. Provider administered treatments of genital warts include cryotherapy, trichloracetic acid, or surgical removal which has the highest primary clearance rate. Patient applied therapies include podophyllotoxin and imiquimod. Recurrence after “successful” treatment is 30–40%. Further improvements could derive from a rational combination of current therapy with new drugs targeting molecular pathways mediated by HPV in cancer. Small molecule inhibitors targeting the DNA binding activities of HPV E1/E2 or the anti-apoptotic consequences of E6/E7 oncogenes are in preclinical development. Proteasome and histone deacetylase inhibitors, which can enhance apoptosis in HPV positive tumour cells, are being tested in early clinical trials. Chronic high-risk HPV infection/neoplasia is characterised by systemic and/or local immune suppressive regulatory or escape factors. Recently two E6/E7 vaccines have shown some clinical efficacy in high grade VIN patients and this correlated with strong and broad systemic HPV-specific T cell response and modulation of key local immune factors. Treatments that can shift the balance of immune effectors locally in combination with vaccination are now being tested. This article forms part of a special supplement entitled “Opportunities for comprehensive control of HPV infections and related diseases” Vaccine Volume 30, Supplement X, 2012