This study examines the key factors influencing investment decisions through decision tree regression, grounded in behavioral finance theory. By analyzing a comprehensive dataset incorporating behavioral, demographic, and financial variables—including investment attitudes, decision-making behaviors, financial education, age, income, and education—this study identifies significant predictors of investment outcomes. While the model shows moderate predictive performance (R² = 0.185; MAPE = 172.96%), it identifies hierarchical relationships among behavioral, cognitive, and demographic predictors. These results highlight the complexity of investment decisions and the need for integrative, behavioral-driven approaches in predictive modeling. Investment attitudes (25.88%), decision-making behaviors (19.53%), and financial education (16.68%) emerge as the most influential variables, while traditional demographic factors such as income and age have a lower impact. The hierarchical structure of the decision tree highlights critical decision-making patterns, particularly regarding speculative behaviors and investment attitudes. These findings challenge classical models of rationality by emphasizing the dominant role of behavioral factors in investment decision making. This study contributes to bridging computational modeling with financial economics, demonstrating the utility of decision tree regression in uncovering complex investor behavior. Practical implications include enhancing personalized financial advisory services and designing targeted financial literacy programs to improve decision-making efficiency. These insights, while exploratory, can guide future research and decision-support systems in behavioral finance.

Urban-farming activities can provide durability to an area, ensuring, among other benefits, environmental awareness, access to fresh food, individual health, and, potentially, an increased family income. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between the following benefits of urban agriculture perceived by the inhabitants of western Romanian towns: socialisation and recreation and the avoidance of food waste with their levels of education and financial situations. The data were collected through an online questionnaire, completed by 648 respondents, and processed in SPSS-IBM using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a Tukey interval test. The study results demonstrated that a high level of education leads to increased belief in the contributions that urban farming makes to improving the socialisation and recreation of city residents. The income level also significantly shapes opinions regarding the contribution of urban agriculture to the increase in recycling. This study reflected critical lifestyle perspectives that impact people’s perception of the benefits of urban agriculture. The findings are expected to provide new insights for regulators and decision-makers, enabling them to develop tailored methods, strategies, policies, and legal measures to achieve sustainable growth in the urban community.

Human dignity has been a much-discussed topic in contemporary debate, and it has benefited from numerous approaches stemming from the fields of philosophy, politics, ethics, psychology or the legal, social and cultural domains. Yet, the meaning of the concept can vary in clarity, leading to ambiguity of usage and approach. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of human dignity and to assess its potential as a funda-mental value for contemporary democracies. A conceptual analysis of human dignity was conducted in the first part of the paper, embracing two essential coordinates of democracy, the political and the ethical approach. An extension of the notion of human dignity, with applications on the collective level rather than simply on the individual one, implies a set of obligations and responsibilities for the democratic state, a context that involves exploring the relationship between human dignity and human rights. In turn, democracy is a means for the constitutional state to provide both the opportunities and the adequate framework for the fullest affirmation and realisation of human dignity. The global challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a growing list of changes that highlighted new faces of democracy and respect for human dignity, aspects that were analysed in the final part of this paper. The author promotes the idea that hu-man dignity emerges as a fundamental value of democracy and that recent global chal-lenges call for a new momentum on debates of this concept.

Creating and promoting an ethical culture in educational institutions is as complex as it is necessary in the current context. Ethical culture in the universities is important because it influences the ethical behavior of members of the academic community and can contribute to the development of students' character. Moral values, once assumed, help us to become better human beings, with an ethical perspective on the decisions making, including respect for others, honesty, equality, etc. Studies have shown that moral standards can be improved through education. In order to educate character leaders, modern universities must ensure both access to ethical education and access to an appropriate ethical climate. The purpose of this article is to explore the framework on which ethical culture in universities is based and the tools that can contribute to its development. The paper also addresses the relationship between institutional ethical culture and ethical behavior of students after graduation. The article argues that a university that develops an ethical culture can contribute to the development of ethical and professional behaviors of graduates.

In the contemporary dynamic world, the integration and advancements of artificial intelligence (AI) have become a global phenomenon with a profound impact on human life and the ability to generate value across various industries and business sectors. The present study integrates four personality-based traits—innovativeness, optimism, discomfort, and insecurity—to explore how professionals from the legal field perceive this technology and their readiness to incorporate digital legal tools and AI in their profession. To empirically validate the proposed research hypotheses, a quantitative research method was employed. The quantitative data analysis was carried out using partial least squares structural equation (PLS-SEM) modelling. Conducted in two Eastern European countries, Latvia and Romania, the research findings indicate that an optimistic mindset drives innovation and generates new opportunities for professionals to use AI tools effectively, enhance efficiency, and solve emerging challenges within the field. The findings offer guidance for policymakers in developing policies, training programs, and communication strategies to facilitate a smooth transition to AI-based practice, support practitioner training, and build community confidence by clarifying AI’s capabilities and constraints.