This body of work is the culmination of a two year investigation into the role of electronically enhanced apparel and artefacts in providing empathetic linkage between people who do not share physical space. The research draws from the diverse fields of philosophy, communications theory, neuropsychology, presence technologies and technologically advanced textiles, and proposes that a nexus of these disciplines may provide significant opportunities for enhancing the user interactivity of garments and artefacts. Remote emotional connection is investigated through the creation of sensor embedded garments and artefacts that have been developed in collaboration with a fashion designer and an electronics engineer. The prototypes encourage remote empathetic connection through the real-time transference of heartbeat. The exegesis is structured into five chapters which consider remote presence, flexible consciousness, the architecture of empathy, plasticity in sense perception and the development of prototypes. The project chapter focuses in the development of and testing of a rnage of garments and artefacts thatt conduct presence information between remotely located people. The garments sense, process, transmit and receive the heartbeat signal (ECG). They are enabled with ECG sensors, signal processing equipment, small vibration motors and radio transceivers which allow users to 'feel' the heartbeat of a remote friend/lover/relative as vibration through their garment. The prototypes aim to enrich the remote communications experience through reintroducing an embodied, tactile dimension that is present in face-to-face communication. A range of user testing trials are discussed in the thesis which have been undertaken to assess the impact of the garments at a conscious and a non-conscious level. Conscious experiences were gauged through qualitative testing by way of interviews and unsolicited written reactions. Non-conscious physiological ractions were assessed by recording ECG throughout user-testing periods. This data has been processed by using HRV (heart rate variability) analysis software, running on MatLab.

The master’s thesis is focused on the possibilities of measuring heart rate of ECG signal and its use in therapeutic game of ECG biofeedback. This thesis describes the way of measuring ECG with acquisition unit Biopac and analyzes signal processing for measurement of heart rate – algorithms of QRS detection, HRV analysis. Realisation of therapeutic is designed for applications in Matlab.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the variability of cardiac rhythm and familiarity with the methods of the analysis, ie by monitoring changes in heart rhythm electrogram signal recording and using the methods in the time domain using recurrent diagram. The work describes the quantification of the methods and possibilities of quantifiers in the evaluation of heart rate variability analysis. It also describes the clinical significance of heart rate variability and diagnostic capabilities changes of heart rate variability caused by ischemic heart disease. The practical part describes how to create applications in Matlab to calculate the quantifiers analysis of heart rate variability in the time domain using recurrent diagram. The calculation was made of the positions R wave elektrogram signal isolated rabbit hearts. The calculated values of quantifiers both methods were statistically evaluated and discussed.