Applications of Community Psychology to Homelessness essays

Applications of Community Psychology to Homelessness essays One of the goals of the City of Chicago's Health Department is to develop ways to decrease teenage drug use. Since the number of adolescents who use illegal drugs is growing rapidly, new and innovative prevention methods must be experimented with in order to solve the problem. Approaching the issue of teenage drug use from Gerald Caplan's prevention perspective will bring about the new and innovative results needed to effectively address this issue. Gerald Caplan (1964) is known as the individual who used the term prevention as a specific program in the mental health lexicon. According to Caplan, there are three distinct types of prevention; primary, secondary and tertiary. In this essay I will use the three main types of prevention as described by Caplan in the textbook Community Psychology - Linking Individuals and Communities to develop three prevention programs that the Health Department could use to address the issue of teenage drug use. The first type of prevention to be addressed in this essay is primary prevention. The basic ideal behind this intervention is to stop the problem before it becomes a problem. At the primary level intervention is given to entire populations when they are not in need or distress. This is usually done to prevent the occurrence of new cases, especially when the problem is considered to be an epidemic. Before a problem or circumstance has the ability to cause harmful effects on a community, a community psychologist will take a proactive approach and intervene to reduce the chance of future difficulties. Another way to look at primary prevention is to consider it intervention given to all people in a particular setting regardless of the need for the intervention. Examples of primary prevention would be to vaccinate all children for polio and other common diseases even though the children have not shown any signs of the disease and may not have a particularly high chance of contrac ting th...

Quantum Physics Overview, Concepts, and History

Quantum Physics Overview, Concepts, and History Quantum physics is the study of the behavior of matter and energy at the molecular, atomic, nuclear, and even smaller microscopic levels. In the early 20th century, scientists discovered that the laws governing macroscopic objects do not function the same in such small realms. What Does Quantum Mean? Quantum comes from the Latin meaning how much. It refers to the discrete units of matter and energy that are predicted by and observed in quantum physics. Even space and time, which appear to be extremely continuous, have the smallest possible values. Who Developed Quantum Mechanics? As scientists gained the technology to measure with greater precision, strange phenomena was observed. The birth of quantum physics is attributed to Max Plancks 1900 paper on blackbody radiation. Development of the field was done by Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger, and other luminary figures in the field. Ironically, Albert Einstein had serious theoretical issues with quantum mechanics and tried for many years to disprove or modify it. Whats Special About Quantum Physics? In the realm of quantum physics, observing something actually influences the physical processes taking place. Light waves act like particles and particles act like waves (called wave particle duality). Matter can go from one spot to another without moving through the intervening space (called quantum tunnelling). Information moves instantly across vast distances. In fact, in quantum mechanics we discover that the entire universe is actually a series of probabilities. Fortunately, it breaks down when dealing with large objects, as demonstrated by the Schrodingers Cat thought experiment. What is Quantum Entanglement? One of the key concepts is quantum entanglement, which describes a situation where multiple particles are associated in such a way that measuring the quantum state of one particle also places constraints on the measurements of the other particles. This is best exemplified by the EPR Paradox. Though originally a thought experiment, this has now been confirmed experimentally through tests of something known as Bells Theorem. Quantum Optics Quantum optics is a branch of quantum physics that focuses primarily on the behavior of light, or photons. At the level of quantum optics, the behavior of individual photons has a bearing on the outcoming light, as opposed to classical optics, which was developed by Sir Isaac Newton. Lasers are one application that has come out of the study of quantum optics. Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the study of how electrons and photons interact. It was developed in the late 1940s by Richard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, Sinitro Tomonage, and others. The predictions of QED regarding the scattering of photons and electrons are accurate to eleven decimal places. Unified Field Theory Unified field theory is a collection of research paths that are trying to reconcile quantum physics with Einsteins theory of general relativity, often by trying to consolidate the fundamental forces of physics. Some types of unified theories include (with some overlap): Quantum GravityLoop Quantum GravityString Theory / Superstring Theory / M-TheoryGrand Unified TheorySupersymmetryTheory of Everything Other Names for Quantum Physics Quantum physics is sometimes called quantum mechanics or quantum field theory. It also has various subfields, as discussed above, which are sometimes used interchangeably with quantum physics, though quantum physics is actually the broader term for all of these disciplines. Major Findings, Experiments, and Basic Explanations Earliest Findings Black Body RadiationPhotoelectric Effect Wave-Particle Duality Youngs Double Slit ExperimentDe Broglie Hypothesis The Compton Effect Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Causality in Quantum Physics - Thought Experiments and Interpretations The Copenhagen InterpretationSchrodingers CatEPR ParadoxThe Many Worlds Interpretation