How centripetal force applies to other common arrangements of a center and an object moving in a circle around it.

Well,

Centripetal force is a special force applied perpendicular to the velocity of the object.  Centripetal force, if applied long enough, will result in circular motion.

I suppose an example would be something like this:
You are holding a milk gallon full of milk.  You begin spinning with the milk gallon, allowing your arms to be "pulled out" by the milk gallon.  You are exerting centripetal force on the milk gallon.

If you tell me what you need specifically, I can edit this.

Is a  vector quantity  that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position." imagine a person moving rapidly - one step forward and one step back - always returning to the original starting position. while this might result in a frenzy of activity, it would result in a zero velocity. because the person always returns to the original position, the motion would never result in a change in position. since velocity is defined as the rate at which the position changes, this motion results in zero velocity. if a person in motion wishes to maximize their velocity, then that person must make every effort to maximize the amount that they are displaced from their original position. every step must go into moving that person further from where he or she started. for certain, the person should never change directions and begin to return to the starting position.