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Oil palm cultivation stands as a crucial industry in Indonesia, significantly contributing to the nation's economy by generating employment opportunities and fostering social welfare for communities residing near plantations. Despite its economic importance, oil palm plantations face various challenges, with one prominent issue being the infestation of nettle caterpillar pests. These pests cause leaf skeletonization, resulting in a staggering 36% reduction in oil palm productivity over a two-year period. This paper explores diverse strategies for pest management in oil palm plantations, encompassing biological control through the stimulation of natural predators, mechanical control involving the collection and incineration of cocoons, and chemical control through pesticide application. The research introduces a predator–prey mathematical model for oil palm plantation pests, where the leaf area serves as the primary food source for caterpillars, acting as prey. Through dynamic model analysis, four equilibrium points are identified, with interconnected conditions dictating their existence and stability. These conditions are visually represented in a bifurcation plane, providing concise information. The study further includes bifurcation diagrams of equilibrium points to elucidate the influence of each parameter on pests, predators, and the leaf area of oil palm plants. Additionally, sensitivity analysis of the stable interior equilibrium point is conducted to understand the impact of individual parameters. The paper extends its investigation to optimal control strategies, evaluating six scenarios categorized into two population conditions: with predators and without predators. Within each population condition, three control strategies are considered—chemical control only, mechanical control only, and a combination of chemical and mechanical control. Simulation results from the optimal control study reveal that the presence of natural predators emerges as a pivotal strategy in effectively managing nettle caterpillars. Notably, the control of resistant pests through pupa incineration has a substantial impact on reducing the caterpillar population in subsequent life cycles. • In current study, the MELP-S-B predator-prey model is proposed for managing nettle caterpillar pests in oil palm plantations involving the control measures. • The inclusion of prey populations, specifically oil palm leaves, in this predator-prey model constitutes the most fundamental novelty of this study. • The main objective of this research is to determine the dynamics of pests in plantations and avoid economic losses due to pests in oil palm plantations. • In-depth analysis of system dynamics around four equilibrium points conducted. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to measure the influence of parameters at the interior point. • Optimal control study conducted to manage pest abundance in oil palm plantations under varying predator presence. Numerical simulations of six strategies, blending mechanical and chemical measures, offer insights into effective pest control combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 outbreak has worsened the issues of obesity and overweight in Indonesia. Technologies related to mHealth are becoming more popular for its capability to lessen obesity, if enabled by patient-focussed consultation. The paper assesses influential determinants of medium workout for obese and overweight adults post-COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,171 participants who self-stated being overweight and called on a health professional in the previous year are chosen using cross-sectional survey. Participants stated their mHealth tracking behaviours, viewpoints regarding obesity, bodily activities and consultation post-COVID-19 epidemic. This study uses structural equation modelling to assess inter-variables relationships. Findings: Patient–professional e-consultation is substantially related to mHealth tracking adoption and transformations in adults' obesity-associated viewpoints, forecasting adequate workout post-COVID-19. The results indicate the necessity of patient-focussed consultation meetings to incorporate communications about mHealth technology and available techniques of joining in bodily activities. Originality/value: The research is the first effort to assess primary information from obese and overweight Indonesian adults post-COVID-19 epidemic (January–July 2022). The population can take advantage of pointed health interferences employing mHealth innovations. The results propose that health professionals must involve patients through mHealth technologies and attempt to enhance digital health knowledge to advance bodily activities nationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the international environmental group, Down to Earth's report showing effects of Indonesia's program of expanding its pulp and paper industry. Impact on the country's natural rainforests; Replacement of rainforests with monocultures of fast-growing softwoods; Overview on the growth of the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia; Plans of the Indonesian government to build additional pulp and paper mills.

Reports that the Sumatran tiger could be threatened by logging firm PT Diamond Raya that has been awarded an eco-timber certificate under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Opposition of the Rainforest Foundation and WALHI, an environmental organization in Indonesia to the issuance of the certificate to PT Diamond Raya; Implications of PT Diamond Raya's logging on Sumatran tigers; Background of the FSC.

The article discusses the success of campaigns seeking to prevent the paper company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) from destroying rainforests in Indonesia for its products, and presents information on a "Forest Conservation Policy" signed by the company.

• This paper presents a parameter estimation of Lotka–Volterra competition model by using genetic algorithm method. • Parameter estimation is done based on annual profit data of commercial and rural banks in Indonesia. • Next, the competition model between commercial and rural banks in Indonesia is explored in the fractional sense. • The fractional model is examined through the Atangana and Baleanu and Caputo derivative. • Comparison of Atangana-Baleanu and Caputo derivative in the form of graphical results for various values of the fractional order parameters are presented. In the present paper, we propose a mathematical model that describes the dynamics of competition between commercial and rural banks in Indonesia through two different fractional operators Atangana-Baleanu and Caputo. We present a parameter estimation of the Lotka–Volterra competition model by using the genetic algorithm method. Parameter estimation is done based on annual profit data of commercial and rural banks in Indonesia. The estimation results capable to predict the profit of commercial and rural banks every year which is not much different from the real data. Next, the competition model between commercial and rural banks in Indonesia is explored in the fractional sense of Atangana–Baleanu and Caputo derivative. The fractional model is examined through the Atangana–Baleanu and Caputo fractional derivative and present the results. A recent numerical procedure is used to obtain the graphical results using various values of the fractional order parameter for the dynamics of the model. A comparison of both the operators for various values of the fractional order parameters are given. We discussed briefly the results and then summarized briefly in section conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the financial problems of Indonesian firm Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). Similar financial problems of Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, a shareholder of APP: Ranking of APP as one of the top ten pulp and paper companies in the world; Strategies used by APP to solve its financial problems; Suggestions on how APP can effect a turnaround.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to an October 30, 2011 article on the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia.

This article discusses a report which exposed that paper company Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its partners are building a highway that will split the Bukit Tigapuluh forest in Indonesia. Released by the World Wide Fund for Nature, the report stated that the companies are constructing a logging highway through the forest, home to two tribes of indigenous people as well as endangered elephants, tigers and orangutans. Clearing began after APP's operations were stopped in a nearby province due to a police investigation into illegal logging.

The article focuses on Pak Norani, a boatmaker from Desun Gembira village in Sumatra, Indonesia who says that his livelihood has been destroyed by Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd.

Looks into the stock prices of pulp and paper business in Indonesia. Chances that prices may actually decrease in 1998; Six pulp and paper stocks listed on the Jakarta bourse; Expectations that a rebounding market in pulp will help Indah Kiat's stock price; Three other listed paper companies.

Reports that international bondholders are angry about the lack of transparency over how Jakarta, Indonesia-based Asia Pulp and Paper Co. will repay debt to mature in 2001.

The author discusses the environmental impact of Indonesia's decision to clear tropical peat bogs on the island of Sumatra to plant acacia trees for paper and palm oil trees to make biofuels to help reduce Europe's carbon dioxide emissions. Draining peat bogs releases as much as 30 times more carbon gases than will be saved by producing biofuels. The Kyoto Protocols are discussed.

The article discusses the linkage of Mattel Inc.'s Barbie doll packaging to the destruction of the Paradise Forest in Indonesia. According to the global research and forensic testing, the packing used mixed tropical hardwood from Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd. It mentions that Mattel must implement strict rules to prevent rainforesr destruction from contaminating their products.

The article presents information on strange species of humans. Some 13,000 years ago, on a tropical island at the heart of the Indonesian archipelago, an extraordinary group of dwarf-sized people lived alongside dwarf elephants and giant lizards. In two papers in Nature, a team of researchers from Australia and Indonesia detail the discovery of Homo floresiensis. As there is no evidence the island was ever linked by land to other parts of south-east Asia, the ancestors of H .floresiensis might have used boats or rafts to reach it. It could not have contained a brain any bigger than a grapefruit similar in size to a small chimpanzee's brain which raises the conundrum of how such a minuscule brain was capable of the sophisticated behaviour suggested by the discovery of tools and animal remains nearby. INSET: ANATOMY OF HOMO FLORESIENSIS.

The article presents information on a change in the paper sourcing policy of media company Walt Disney Co. to help protect tropical forests. It is reported that Rainforest Action Network is working with Disney on the policy that will reduce paper consumption and increase the use of recycled content. Rebecca Tarbotton, the executive director of Rainforest Action Network, says that the policy change will especially reduce deforestation in Indonesia.

The article discusses the highlights of a Rainforest Alliance audit confirming the findings of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Indonesia's local nongovernment agencies (NGOs) regarding Asia Pulp & Paper's (APP) alleged failure to stop deforestation in its concessions. It adds that APP is failing to stop illegal activities even in areas already identified as containing high conservation values and carbon stocks. WWF lauds APP in inviting the audit and urges it to act on the audit findings.

Focuses on an increase price of newsprint in Indonesia, while highlighting the impact that the higher prices will have on Indonesia's journalists, media workers and street sellers. Comment by Atal S. Depari, Managing Editor of the Jakarta daily newspaper `Sinar Pagi'; Prediction of major staff layoffs by media analysts; Reason given for the price increase of newsprint.

The article reports that the world's third biggest paper company Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), has violated its pledge of moratorium on deforestation when one of its suppliers, cleared a forest area on the island of Sumatra. APP, and its suppliers who manage more than 2.5 million hectares of land in Indonesia, has admitted that it was a mistake. However, campaigns from green groups like Rainforest Action Network, Greenpeace, and Indonesian nonprofits, has substantially tarnished APP's brand.

Water research projects are often interdisciplinary and participatory in nature. Scientists and managers involved strive to create learning that advances science in various fields while providing benefits for society. They also face challenges of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for accountability and measurement of impacts, required by funding agencies. In this paper we tested selected M&E processes and methods for their potential to increase capacity in a cross-cultural inter-disciplinary research setting of an urban water research project. A total of eight different qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods were assessed using two processes: self-evaluation by researchers, testing five methods; and the external evaluations by stakeholders, testing three methods. Both processes were found useful. Of the five self-evaluation methods tested, the Logical Frameworks method was deemed a good planning tool but not one contributing to learning. The qualitative (Factors of Success and Obstacles/Enablers) and the Best Case/Worst Case Scenarios quantitative method were effective learning methods. Tracking Change was found suitable for measuring learning. We recommended that a combination of methods be used in order to capture the full dynamic of projects in various stages. Explicit timelines for indicators and measures of project success are recommended for managing expectations of both researchers and funding agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria is a vector-borne diseases caused by parasite of genus Plasmodium and is transmitted via a bite of mosquitoes. Although the number of malaria cases has been reduced, an outbreak still happens, which causes deaths particularly in children. In this paper, mathematical models in the absence and presence of awareness programs and vector controls have been formulated and studied. The qualitative analysis of the model has been conducted. A global sensitivity analysis of the model has been performed to determine the most influential parameters on the increasing number of infected individuals and the reproduction number. An optimal control approach has been used to analyse the effects of control strategies and the model is fitted to data of malaria cases from Weeluri Health Center, Central Sumba, Indonesia. Qualitative analysis of the model showed that the disease-free and endemic equilibrium are globally stable. Furthermore, the reproduction number for malaria is found to be R 0 = 1.1199. Results from global sensitivity analyses showed that the biting rate, the transmission probability from mosquitoes to human, and human to mosquitoes, and the number of mosquitoes per human are the most influential parameters, which indicate the importance of reducing the contact between human and mosquitoes. This suggests the awareness of individuals to take the prevention actions hold an important role for reducing the contact with mosquitoes. Furthermore, using the Pontryagin maximum principle, we found that the awareness programs and vector control should be implemented at a higher level and the vector controls need to be applied for the entire period to obtain the reduction in the number of infected individuals at the minimum costs. Interestingly, in the absence of vector control programs, it is still possible to reduce the number of malaria cases when the awareness programs have been implemented and aware individuals are willing to take the prevention actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of the pressure head, i.e., the difference of total pressure forces acting on the Indonesian seas waters from the western Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean, in driving the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and in determining the total transport of the ITF. These questions have been discussed in the literature but no consensus has been reached. A regional model of the Indonesian seas circulation has been developed that properly resolves all major topographic features in the region. The results of model runs have been used to calculate all components of the overall momentum balance. The estimates disclose that the dynamical balance is primarily between the volume integrated Coriolis acceleration, pressure gradient and the area integral of local wind stress. It is shown that consideration of components of momentum balance in the direction of the outflow through the Indian Ocean port leads to the formulation of a diagnostic relation between total inflow transports due to the Mindanao and New Guinea Coastal Currents and the external pressure head, internal pressure head, bottom form stress, and area integrated wind stress. Based on this relation, it is concluded that the external pressure head is not the major driving force of the ITF, which is why there is no unique relation between the total transport of the ITF and the external pressure head. However, Wyrtki's suggestion to monitor the variability of the total transport of the ITF by measurement of the sea-surface-height difference between the western Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean is validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses findings which challenge the idea of a small human species on the Indonesian island of Flores. The adult human skeleton called LB1, was unveiled in the year 2004 by a discovery team which decided that the tiny specimens belonged to an unknown human species called Homo floresiensis. Skeptics argue that LB1 was a diseased member of a small-bodied population of modern humans. The papers published by researchers favoring the skeptics' view are discussed. INSET: Dancing around DNA.

The article reports on the negative impact of the printing of picture books for children in China on tropical rainforests in Indonesia. According to the World Wildlife Fund and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), many picture books are being printed in China, where printers make wide use of cheap Indonesian paper. Due to efforts to meet the increased demand for pulpwood for paper, only less than one-half of Indonesia's original forest cover remains.

The article presents a discussion about Dutch naturalist and doctor Pieter Bleeker. His lack of education stymied his scientific ambitions and at age 22, he set sail for the Dutch East Indies in 1841 as a military surgeon to Batavia, now Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Bleeker studied dysentery and his findings earned him an honorary degree from the University of Utrecht. Bleeker amassed 18,000 specimens, mainly of fish, and published 730 scientific papers. He also published an Atlas.

Reports on Indonesian academician George Aditjondro's research papers on the invasion of General Suharto's forces on East Timor, Indonesia. Titles; Author's involvement in human rights activism; Statistics; presented by the papers; Content of Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating's speech in a meeting with Indonesian officials; Politics behind the East Timor incident.

The article focuses on a research designed to characterize the haematite crystals found within the logbooks of Captain William Bligh. The analytical techniques used include optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The evidence discovered by researchers showed that the crystals did not originate from England or Tahiti, but may have been sourced in Coupang, West Timor in Indonesia. Researchers concluded that Bligh might have written his account during his open-boat voyage.

The article examines a decision of Indonesia's supreme court made public on October 31, 2008 reversing a lower court decision to free the company Asian Pulp & Paper from $500 million in debt obligations in the form of corporate bonds. Investors in the corporate bonds of developing countries were pleased with the judgment. Some investors, however, had already settled with the company before the decision was announced.

The article reports on the end of natural forest clearance in Indonesia by Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) on February 5, 2013. It presents the thoughts of the chairman of APP Group, Teguh Ganda Wijaya, related to the important commitment which is made for the benefit of society and urges for the support from its stakeholders. It also mentions that Indonesia's forests were decreasing due to deforestation.

The article focuses on the environmental protection undertaken by Greenpeace International to the endangered Paradise Forest in Indonesia. Greenpeace International is concern on the destruction of the rainforest due to the expansion of the palm oil and paper plantations of Sinar Mas Group, a conglomerate. Nestle Food Corp., the customer of Sinar Mas, has been criticized by Greenpeace International due to the investigative report.

The article looks at actions taken by the Indonesian government to prevent illegal logging. In February 2005, a group called the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) alleged that $600 million-worth of timber was being smuggled from Indonesia to China every month, with the active help of the army and police. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's president, duly pledged a crackdown. Operation Sustainable Forest, as the resultant campaign is known, appears to be yielding some results. The government is reluctant to shut down unlicensed mills for fear of putting tens of thousands of laborers out of work, and denting Indonesia's exports of paper, plywood and the like, which bring in $4 billion a year. In the long run, economists argue, the government should concentrate on adding value, rather than volume, to its timber exports.

This article reports on the results of the July 5, 2004 presidential elections in Indonesia. From the early morning, voters queued up diligently to collect their ballots, punch a hole in the picture of the presidential candidate of their choice and drop the paper in the box. An ordinary election in many countries--but an extraordinary one in Indonesia. Even after the overthrow in 1998 of Suharto, the country's strongman for three decades, and despite the restoration of democratic elections to parliament the following year, Indonesian legislators continued to elect (and depose) presidents without a popular vote. Poll workers would subsequently have recounted many of those, leaving the final proportion of spoiled ballots similar to or less than the 7.5% recorded in legislative elections in April. After all, two brand-new parties, the Democrats and Prosperous Justice, together polled almost 15% of the vote in April's legislative election.

Bats are famed for using high-pitched squeaks to catch prey in total darkness. Now a paper published in the June 10, 2004 issue of Nature demonstrates that this acoustic skill is a major engine of bat evolution. While trapping bats on Sulawesi, Indonesia, Tigga Kingston of Boston University in Massachusetts and Stephen Rossiter of the University of London, U.K., noticed that large-eared horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus philippinensis) came in three sizes. The answer, they discovered, may lie in the bats' echolocation calls. The largest bats emitted the lowest-frequency calls at 27.2 kHz, whereas the intermediate-sized and small bats preferred substantially higher tones.

Voters in Indonesia's parliamentary and local elections were confronted with enormous paper ballots bearing the names of all the party candidates running in their areas, plus their party symbols. In many areas there was not just one ballot per voter, but as many as four — one for each of four different institutions with seats to be filled. Two dozen parties ran a total of 448,705 candidates and 124 million people voted — no wonder the count was slow. Initial predictions were that it would be completed on April 21, 2004.

The article reports on the denial by Idaho Senator Larry Craig as a defense mechanism against a sex scandal. It mentions that Craig is facing conviction in a sex scandal and the publication of the details of his gay sex life by a hometown paper. It notes that in a bid to distract himself from the issues about his sex life, Craig flew to Bali, Indonesia to engage in the United Nations summit on climate change held in December 2007. It adds that in Congress, Craig is busy pursuing leadership on global warming legislation.

The article reports on human cases of bird influenza in Indonesia. The first human deaths from avian influenza in Indonesia were announced on July 20, 2005 by the country's health minister, Siti Fadillah Supari. In this case, although the World Health Organization had yet to confirm Supari's announcement when "The Economist " went to press, officials are worried there is no obvious avian source for the infection. That, plus the fact that the victims lived together, raises the possibility that one of them gave it to the others. Fadillah was keen to play down the idea of such human-to-human transmission, but more than 300 people who have had contact with the three victims are being tested for the virus just in case. A paper in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science" suggested that the virus circulating in the avian population has been evolving into a form less lethal to birds. That raises concerns that birds which have survived the disease may act as a reservoir--and that if migratory wildfowl caught it, they could carry it out of South-East Asia.

The article reports on Homo floresiensis, the small fossil hominid discovered last year on the Indonesian island of Flores. Teuku Jacob, an Indonesian palaeontologist not involved in the original discovery, had suggested that what has been found is actually a group of congenitally deformed Homo sapiens, and not a new species at all. A paper published in this week's Science by Dean Falk, of Florida State University in Tallahassee, and her colleagues, shows that Dr Jacob's theory of Florence's origin is wrong. The "virtual" endocast of the skull using computerized tomography shows a pattern of lobes similar to that of Homo erectus. Homo floresiensis seems to be a locally evolved descendant of Homo Erectus.

The article presents information on an atlas on areas affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami in southern Asia, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The atlas, titled "Tsunami Atlas" uses images collected from FAO databases and major spatial data sources on the Web-satellite images, topographic and thematic maps and geo-statistics. FAO has so far prepared a paper atlas and a CD-ROM version containing hundreds of tsunami-related images and maps for Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

The article discusses how the facts concerning the discovery of the hominid homo floresiensis on the Indonesian island of Flores may be hard to confirm because most of the remains have been borrowed by Teuku Jacob, a researcher at Gadjah Mada University in Jogjakarta, who was not involved in the original excavation. This is rather irregular behavior, and seems to contradict an agreement between the Indonesian and Australian institutions involved in the dig that the remains would be kept at the Centre for Archaeology, and made available for study by outside researchers. Dr Jacob, a doyen of Indonesian paleoanthropology, has a reputation for sitting on specimens and preventing others from examining them. In the case of Homo floresiensis, it seems he was miffed that he was not involved in the original project, even though the idea of digging in Flores was not to find new species, but rather to look for evidence of exactly how and when humanity first arrived in Australia. However, since Florence's existence was announced in a paper in Nature, he has been trying to get in on the act.

The author comments on multinational companies. If you believe the claims of anti-globalisers from Seattle to Cancún, they are the ugly face of capitalism. They have no commitment either to the countries in which they are based or to those in which they invest. They move jobs from one country to another purely on the basis of cold calculation, seeking lavish subsidies to persuade them to invest or to stay: John Kerry, America's Democratic presidential candidate, has labelled companies that switch production overseas "Benedict Arnold" firms, after a traitor in America's revolutionary war. Andrew Bernard of Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business and Bradford Jensen of the Institute for International Economics have studied how the ownership of American manufacturing plants affects their chances of closing. In a new paper T, Mr Bernard and Fredrik Sjoholm, of the Stockholm School of Economics, consider the rate of plant closures in Indonesia, a country many activists regard as having been especially damaged by fickle foreign investors. When the researchers compared factories owned by multinational firms with factories of the same size and efficiency, however, their results were reversed: the probability of closure was 20 percentage points higher in Indonesia and three points higher in America for multinationals than for local firms. Critics of globalisation may call that a threat to sovereignty. But they should consider the possibility that the economic benefits exceed the drawbacks.

Reports developments concerning investments in Asia as of November 2001. Significance of the success of Goldman Sach's real-estate investment trust to foreign investments; Details of the launch of javelin Asia Pacific Principal Protected Notes by ZCM Investor Capital; Price of Asia Pulp & Paper bonds.

Profiles Indonesian businessman Mohamad Hasan, focusing on his widespread and significant business connections. His relationship with Makam Suharto, President of Indonesia; Information on his business empire which deals in timber, paper, banking, media and shipping; Reference to his interest in playing golf.

Focuses on several aspects of logging in Kalimantan and reports that, although Indonesia has tough forestry laws on paper, it is difficult to enforce them. The economic issues; Dayaks and their system of land rights.