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Identifying the genuine needs of a community and developing a sound program to respond to those needs represent the primary mission of the community educator. The success of program planning efforts will depend largely on how solid the analysis of the community is. This collection of papers deals with the question of how community analysis is done. It provides both theoretical background and practical suggestions and examples of what kind of information is useful and how to get it. Contributions include "A Growing Imperative" by Harold J. Burbach and Larry E. Decker, "Educational Planning" by Ken M. Young, "A Nine-Phase Approach to Community Education Development" by Michael H. Kaplan, "Community Involvement: A Model for Systematic Planning" by Larry Winecoff and Conrad Powell,"Planning as Process" by John W. Warden, "Community-Based Research" by Harold J. Burbach, "Community Observation" by Richard M. Brandt, "Community Power Structure" by Everett B. Howerton, Jr., and "Program Evaluation" by Bruce M. Gansneder. (Author/JM)

Most animal cells maintain a large gradient of free calcium across the plasma membrane (10,000-fold or more), with intracellular free calcium held at a level of about 100 nM. To accomplish this, cells have an array of molecular machinery including ATP-driven calcium pumps, calcium exchangers, intracellular calcium storage compartments, and an assortment of calcium binding proteins (1-6). This machinery is needed because calcium is used ubiquitously as a signaling molecule, involving numerous receptors and a complex maze of intracellular signaling cascades (7-10). One approach to the study of this biological arena is the tracking of calcium levels in different subcellular regions. Our goal is to consider how fluorescent calcium indicators, in conjunction with confocal microscopy, can best be used to image subcellular calcium dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]