Asthma is a chronic bronchial disease triggered by various types of stimuli, that causes episodes of thoracic constriction, which severely limit the exchange of air. These stimuli can be external (such as allergens, pollen or air quality), or episodes related to psychophysical constitution (asthma triggered by stress, asthma triggered by efforts, etc. ..). This clinical condition in particular can evolve into various medical complications: from a physical point of view, for example weakening of respiratory muscle structure of the subject, and a mentally point of view, such as psychosis linked to each episode of asthma. The latter case often causes medicines abuses, that lead to further weakening of the airways, or total abandonment of an healthy physical activity because the user is frightened of incurring acute crisis. From this last evaluation the following thesis path comes, with the aim of exorcise the fears of the user related to anxiety and stress. Everything throught the design of tools that could help the user to monitor and keep under control his clinical situation and encourage his sport lifestyle. The goal of the thesis is to design a product that could be able of monitor the physiological informations of the users, bounding them with the environment around them and improove his psychophysical conditions. The studies involved many disciplines, analyzing the medical field, design and biomedical engineering, trying to make these three worlds converge in a single project.Thanks to the numerous interviews with doctors baseded in Milan, the studies of different papers and academic articles on the subject, it was possible to go deep the world of asthma and the behavior of some patients. Through the meetings and interviews with the teacher Andrea Aliverti of the Biomedical Engineering department of the Polytechnic of Milan, analysing the studies of the researcher Ambra Cesareo at the IRCCS institute “E. Medea” and through the in-depth analysis of the various academic articles and texts, it was possible to go into the world of “neural networks” and especially the Body Area Networks - BAN -, which built the basis of the technologies present in this thesis. Finally, thanks to the contribution of the Integrated Product Design degree course, it was possible to incorporate all this knowledge and synthesize it in a single system. The following thesis paper illustrates how the design requirements for the creation of smart werable devices that support users in every aspect of everyday life and especially in the sports field have been investigated and resolved.
L’asma è una malattia cronica dei bronchi che, innescata da stimoli di varia natura, provoca episodi di costrizione toracica, i quali limitano fortemente lo scambio d’aria nel soggetto affetto. Questi stimoli possono essere esterni (quali allergeni, pollini o qualità dell’aria), oppure episodi legati alla propria costituzione psicofisica (asma da stress, asma da sforzo, ecc..). Questa particolare condizione clinica può evolversi in svariate complicazioni mediche: dal punto di vista fisico, come ad esempio un indebolimento della struttura muscolare respiratoria del soggetto, e mentale, come ad esempio la psicosi legata ad ogni episodio di asma. Quest’ultimo caso, infatti, è spesso terreno fertile di abuso di medicinali che portano ad un ulteriore indebolimento delle vie aeree, o di totale abbandono di una sana attività fisica per paura di incorrere in crisi acute. Proprio da quest’ultima valutazione nasce il seguente percorso di tesi che tende appunto ad esorcizzare le paure legate all’ansia, disegnando degli oggetti che aiutino il paziente a monitorare e tenere sotto cotrollo la sua situazione clinica e incentivare la sua attività sportiva. Obbiettivo della tesi è quindi realizzare un prodotto che sia in grado di monitorare le informazioni fisiologiche dell’utente, metterle in relazione anche con l’ambiente che lo circonda e migliorare sensibilmente le sue condizioni psicofisiche. Lo studio ha interessato numerose discipline, analizzando trasversalmente l’ambito medico, il design e l’ingegneria biomedica, cercando di far collidere questi tre mondi in un unico progetto. Grazie alle numerose interviste con vari medici dislocati nell’area milanese, gli studi di vari paper e articoli accademici sull’argomento, è stato possibile approfondire maggiormente il mondo dell’asma e il comportamento di alcuni pazienti in tale ambito. Tramite gli incontri e le interviste con il professore Andrea Aliverti del dipartimento di Ingegneria Biomedica del Politecnico di Milano, attraverso gli studi della ricercatrice Ambra Cesareo presso l’istituto IRCCS “E. Medea” e attraverso l’analisi appofondita dei vari articoli accademici e dei testi in merito, è stato possibile ispezionare il mondo delle “reti neurali” e dei Body Area Networks - BAN -, che hanno costruito la base delle tecnologie presenti in questa tesi. Infine grazie al contributo del corso di laurea di Integrated Product Design è stato possibile inglobare tutte queste conoscenze e sintetizzarle in un unico sistema. Nel seguente elaborato di tesi si illustra come sono stati indagati e risolti requisiti progettuali per la realizzazione di smart werable devices che supportino gli utenti in ogni aspetto della quotidianità e soprattutto nell’ambito sportivo.
EAL. Enjoy asthma life
MARVULLI, ANGELO
2018/2019
Abstract
Asthma is a chronic bronchial disease triggered by various types of stimuli, that causes episodes of thoracic constriction, which severely limit the exchange of air. These stimuli can be external (such as allergens, pollen or air quality), or episodes related to psychophysical constitution (asthma triggered by stress, asthma triggered by efforts, etc. ..). This clinical condition in particular can evolve into various medical complications: from a physical point of view, for example weakening of respiratory muscle structure of the subject, and a mentally point of view, such as psychosis linked to each episode of asthma. The latter case often causes medicines abuses, that lead to further weakening of the airways, or total abandonment of an healthy physical activity because the user is frightened of incurring acute crisis. From this last evaluation the following thesis path comes, with the aim of exorcise the fears of the user related to anxiety and stress. Everything throught the design of tools that could help the user to monitor and keep under control his clinical situation and encourage his sport lifestyle. The goal of the thesis is to design a product that could be able of monitor the physiological informations of the users, bounding them with the environment around them and improove his psychophysical conditions. The studies involved many disciplines, analyzing the medical field, design and biomedical engineering, trying to make these three worlds converge in a single project.Thanks to the numerous interviews with doctors baseded in Milan, the studies of different papers and academic articles on the subject, it was possible to go deep the world of asthma and the behavior of some patients. Through the meetings and interviews with the teacher Andrea Aliverti of the Biomedical Engineering department of the Polytechnic of Milan, analysing the studies of the researcher Ambra Cesareo at the IRCCS institute “E. Medea” and through the in-depth analysis of the various academic articles and texts, it was possible to go into the world of “neural networks” and especially the Body Area Networks - BAN -, which built the basis of the technologies present in this thesis. Finally, thanks to the contribution of the Integrated Product Design degree course, it was possible to incorporate all this knowledge and synthesize it in a single system. The following thesis paper illustrates how the design requirements for the creation of smart werable devices that support users in every aspect of everyday life and especially in the sports field have been investigated and resolved.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/164552