Starting from the Boolean notion of logical proportion in Piaget's sense, which turns out to be equivalent to analogical proportion, this note proposes a definition of analogical proportion between numerical values based on triangular norms (and dual co-norms). Frank's family of triangular norms is particularly interesting from this perspective. The article concludes with a comparative discussion with another very recent proposal for defining analogical proportions between numerical values based on the family of generalized means.

Demographic and educational factors are essential, influential factors of early childhood development. This study aimed to investigate spatial patterns in the association between attendance at preschool and children's developmental vulnerabilities in one or more domain(s) in their first year of full-time school at a small area level in Queensland, Australia. This was achieved by applying geographically weighted regression (GWR) followed by K-means clustering of the regression coefficients. Three distinct geographical clusters were found in Queensland using the GWR coefficients. The first cluster covered more than half of the state of Queensland, including the Greater Brisbane region, and displays a strong negative association between developmental vulnerabilities and attendance at preschool. That is, areas with high proportions of preschool attendance tended to have lower proportions of children with at least one developmental vulnerability in the first year of full-time school. Clusters two and three were characterized by stronger negative associations between developmental vulnerabilities, English as the mother language, and geographic remoteness, respectively. This research provides evidence of the need for collaboration between health and education sectors in specific regions of Queensland to update current service provision policies and to ensure holistic and appropriate care is available to support children with developmental vulnerabilities.

Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. Check out what clicked this week in entertainment. Kate Middleton is making her mark as a future queen consort. On Thursday, the Duchess of Cambridge led her first roundtable with U.K. politicians to champion her cause on early childhood development. The mother of three urged the politicians present that there is "more we can all do" to prioritize the well-being of children.

Playing with dolls uses a brain region that helps children develop empathy for other people and social processing skills, a study has discovered. Researchers from Cardiff found that doll play activated the use of the so-called posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) more than other creative activities. In addition, the social benefits of the dolls were observed even when children played alone -- rather than with others -- and were equal among girls and boys. The findings support the pioneering theories of the Swiss'father of developmental psychology' Jean Piaget, who argued in 1945 that pretend play was inherently social. 'We use this area of the brain when we think about other people, especially when we think about another person's thoughts or feelings,' said paper author and developmental researcher Sarah Gerson of Cardiff University.

HUANGCHUAN VILLAGE, CHINA – Every day after lunch, Qu Yexiu used to potter around her house in northwest China doing housework and looking after her 2-year-old grandson. Now, every day after lunch, Qu and her grandson visit the newly opened early-childhood development center in their village of Huangchuan in the mountains of Shaanxi province, where he can play with other toddlers. "Things are better now that we have this village center," said Qu, 56. She looks after her two grandchildren while their parents work and live in nearby Anhui province. The other grandchild attends a preschool.

A recent study published in the Royal Society Open Science shows that babies can retain languages spoken to them in the first few months of life even if they move elsewhere and "forget" the language. Babies will always have some sort of familiarity with the language as long as that language was heard in its early life, researchers concluded. Dr. Jiyoun Choi and colleagues at Hanyang University in Seoul conducted the research by testing Dutch-speaking adults, who were adopted from South Korea. The point of the study was to show the adopted children were at an automatic advantage since the Korean language was spoken to them in their early life, even if they thought they had forgotten it. ''This finding indicates that useful language knowledge is laid down in [the] very early months of life, which can be retained without further input of the language and revealed via re-learning,'' Choi told BBC News.

Babies are remarkable at taking in knowledge about the language they hear. Even in the first few months of their lives, children begin to learn about how to pronounce words – and it seems this is a skill they never forget. A new study has shown even if a baby moves country at a young age and never learns its birth language; it will always retain some hidden knowledge of the words it heard in its early life. Babies are remarkable at taking in knowledge about the language they hear. Dr Jiyoun Choi and colleauges at Hanyang University in Seoul tested Dutch-speaking adults adopted from South Korea.

Babies build knowledge about the language they hear even in the first few months of life, research shows. If you move countries and forget your birth language, you retain this hidden ability, according to a study. Dutch-speaking adults adopted from South Korea exceeded expectations at Korean pronunciation when retrained after losing their birth language. Scientists say parents should talk to babies as much as possible in early life. Dr Jiyoun Choi of Hanyang University in Seoul led the research.