Member
What's TARA (1996-2001)
The English
pamphlet entitled "Center for Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance"
(TARA) describes the objectives of the TARA Project which was established
in May 20, 1994 at the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
The objectives are to develop the most advanced interdisciplinary academic
research and to establish an innovative system for collaboration among
industry, national research institutes and universities. These
collaborations will help maximize the contribution of the university's
research for the advancement of society. The TARA concept establishes
and executes a new system to achieve these goals and responds to the
needs of the society. TARA encompasses a wide range of academic
research fields and has 222 faculty members. It is significant
that no permanent research department has been established. Instead,
7 different "Research Aspects" are established in the following
areas: 1) Biological Sciences, 2) Material Sciences, 3) Information
Management through the Multimedia, 4) Human Beings in the Ecosystem,
5) Liaison, Research Management, Intellectual Property and Technology
Transfer, ----. A brief summary of the TARA project was published
in the very well-known research journals Nature in May 1994 and July
1995, and Science in June and November 1994 by Leona Esaki, who won
the Nobel prize for physics in 1973 and came to Tsukuba in 1992 from
IBM to become the University's president. Dr. Kazuo Murakami has
been director of Center for TARA since its foundation. Received "Nihon-Gakusiin-sho"
The authors of this article belong to the research aspect, "Human
Beings in the Ecosystem", in which two research projects have been
selected so far. One of the two is tentatively entitled "Development
of An Overall Instrument of Quality of Life for the Elderly" or
"Development of the Tsukuba Overall Quality-of-Life Profile for
the Elderly." Quality of life (QOL) measures have proven
valuable in reflecting the health status of older adult populations
where functional impairment, morbidity, and disability are commonplace.
The measures may also be useful in reflecting the positive health
of middle-aged and younger age populations. This is simply because
aging beyond the third decade is associated with a deterioration in
most physiological systems. Since lifestyle changes, including
alterations in physical activity and diet, and disease processes also
become manifest with advancing age, it is more appropriate to look at
a wide variety of possible QOL measures.