This edited volume analyzes the experiences learned in practice especially among small holder farmers to eradicate poverty. In other words, it discusses practical solutions which small scale farmers can use to alleviate poverty and reduce inequality. This addresses the issue of inclusive and sustainability of projects leading to the notion of not leaving anyone behind. The book provides insights that can be translated into policy with potential to inform practice. It also has the potential to address the issue of rural urban migration by providing knowledge that is usable by small scale farmers, policy makers and entrepreneurs alike. The volume is written by authors from different countries, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, indicating the commonality of the problems of poverty and inequality. It contains insights from all these countries assembled together into an amalgam of practices ready to use and implement informed by evidence from the field as most of the chapters are based on empirical data.

This book examines the connections between poverty and innovation in Africa. Through case studies and theorizations from a distinctly African perspective, it stands in contrast to current theoretical works in the field, which remain very much rooted in Western-orientated thinking. The book investigates the application of methodologies which explain numerous African contexts in connection with issues of poverty and inequality. It reflects on comparative practices and praxes on the African continent, including commonplace traditions and practices in alleviating poverty, taken against a background of the failure of current prescriptions for poverty alleviation, such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). There is a dire need for new practical perspectives which move Africa forward using its indigenous knowledge. Owing to a general lack of recorded African theories and methodologies on poverty, inequality and innovation, this book represents a pioneering corpus of African knowledge addressing poverty and inequality through local innovations. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, it is relevant to students and scholars in development studies and economics, African studies, social studies, political history and political economy, climate studies, anthropology and geography.

This thesis makes a contribution to the ongoing debate on the most appropriate method of measuring poverty for interventionist purposes in rural areas. It is informed by the Zimbabwe experience that income-based measures may not always adequately target those most in need of social support. A new approach is posited that focuses on the non-income component of poverty. The aim is to assist 'technocrats' to better target the poor in need of a social safety net in crisis situations. The search is for a 'credible' measure that will be acceptable to various interest groups including the poor. Thus the proposed measure derived by means of a consensual approach meets this objective. The literature review describes and discusses the weaknesses of conventional poverty measures, divided into two broad categories of those pre- and post-dating Sen's introduction of the capability concept. The thesis then uses these to explore the conventional approaches (the dominant income measures) and flag their operational deficiencies, and then postulates an asset threshold model, the minimally adequate asset level (MAAL), based on the consensual approach.

In internet of things (IoT) applications, wireless connectivity is a key factor, particularly those that need to be in transition, or where wired communication is not effective or practicable. For top-notch connectivity of the Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) standard, the 900MHz frequency is generally used by most of the vendors. The radiation quality not only depends on the antenna geometry but on immediate surroundings. Additionally, the IoT product itself and the user of the product can strongly affect the resulting radiation pattern and other characteristics of the antenna. On the other hand, a suitable antenna should also have high efficiency and adequate bandwidth covering the desired frequency range. To take these effects into consideration, the whole IoT product must be included in the antenna simulations. Antenna Design for Narrowband IoT: Design, Analysis, and Applications provides the antenna design concept for narrowband internet of things applications, performs a detailed analysis of the antenna, and discusses the various antenna design concepts and structures. Covering a range of topics such as antenna design and antenna measurement systems, this book is ideal for industry professionals, research scholars, academicians, professors, and students.