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Purpose The fuzziness and complexity of evaluation information are common phenomenon in practical decision-making problem, interval neutrosophic sets (INSs) is a power tool to deal with ambiguous information. Similarity measure plays an important role in judging the degree between ideal and each alternative in decision-making process, the purpose of this paper is to establish a multi-criteria decision-making method based on similarity measure under INSs. Design/methodology/approach Based on an extension of existing cosine similarity, this paper first introduces an improved cosine similarity measure between interval neutosophic numbers, which considers the degrees of the truth membership, the indeterminacy membership and the falsity membership of the evaluation values. And then a multi-criteria decision-making method is established based on the improved cosine similarity measure, in which the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) is adopted to aggregate the neutrosophic information related to each alternative. Finally, an example on supplier selection is given to illustrate the feasibility and practicality of the presented decision-making method. Findings In the whole process of research and practice, it was realized that the application field of the proposed similarity measure theory still should be expanded, and the development of interval number theory is one of further research direction. Originality/value The main contributions of this paper are as follows: this study presents an improved cosine similarity measure under INSs, in which the weights of the three independent components of an interval number are taken into account; OWA are adopted to aggregate the neutrosophic information related to each alternative; and a multi-criteria decision-making method using the proposed similarity is developed under INSs.

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To provide theoretical reference for owners to identify unbalanced bids, this paper aims to construct an identification method based on grey relational and fuzzy set theory. Firstly, to measure the closeness degree between bidding unit price from engineering’s estimated price, grey relational analysis theory is used to express the relationship between them. Secondly, a combined weight method determining all line items is calculated through integrating analytic hierarchy model and maximizing deviation method. Thirdly, based on fuzzy set theory, the membership degree and the fuzzy relation matrix are constructed, and then a fuzzy comprehensive identification method is established to identify unbalanced bidding. Fourthly, on the basis of fuzzy comprehensive identification method, the scoring set and total score vector are designed, and the rank of unbalanced bids is obtained by total score vector. Finally, a practical construction project bidding is stated to illustrate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.

Interval Pythagorean fuzzy set (IPFS), which can handle imprecise and ambiguous information, has attracted considerable attention in both theory and practice. However, one of the main difficulties under IPFSs is the comparison between interval numbers. To overcome this shortcoming, connection number theory is first introduced, and interval numbers are transformed into connection numbers in the operating process. Considering that similarity measures play an important role in assessing the degree between ideal and proposal alternatives in the decision making process, this paper aims to develop new similarity measures with IPFSs and apply them to multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) introduction of a comparison method through transforming interval numbers into connection numbers; (2) development of three new similarity measures with IPFSs based on the minimum and maximum operators, and investigation of their properties; (3) calculation of the similarity measures considering weights of membership and non-membership degrees; (4) establishment of an interval Pythagorean fuzzy decision making method applying the presented similarity measures. A case study on selecting a project delivery system is made to show the applicability of the proposed approach.

Mobile flood protection systems provide a standardized flood protection method with high reliability. A comprehensive test site for mobile flood wall was established with the support of real applications, which provided opportunities to perform various tests. The anchor plate installation, seepage characteristics, and stress behavior of mobile flood protection systems were investigated through a process test, a water impounding test, and a post loading/unloading test. Test results indicated that installing anchor plates either by direct fixing or by preopened slots and eyes satisfy the construction and normal work requirements. However, the former is preferable over the latter. The mobile flood protection wall leaks when filled with water, and the leakage changes exponentially with the level. The leakage accelerates when the water level exceeds 1.5 m, thus registering 300 L/h at the 1.7 m level. In the post loading test (0–100 kN), concrete plastic deformation was first observed. Then, residual displacement was developed in the posts. The stressing process indicated that the failure process in the post, anchor plate, and base concrete system propagates from the concrete on both sides of the anchor plates toward the water side.

Knowledge sharing (KS) in the green supply chain (GSC) is jointly determined by the KS efforts of suppliers and manufacturers. This study uses the differential game method to explore the dynamic strategy of KS and the benefits of emission reduction in the process of low carbon (LC) technology in the GSC. The optimal trajectory of the knowledge stock and emission reduction benefits of suppliers and manufacturers under different strategies are obtained. The validity of the model and the results are verified by numerical simulation analysis, and the sensitivity analysis of the main parameters in the case of collaborative sharing is carried out. The results show that in the case of centralized decision-making, the KS efforts of suppliers and manufacturers are the highest, and the knowledge stock and emission reduction benefits of GSC are also the best. The cost-sharing mechanism can realize the Pareto improvement of GSC’s knowledge stock and emission reduction benefits, but the cost-sharing mechanism can only increase the supplier’s KS effort level. In addition, this study found that the price of carbon trading and the rate of knowledge decay have a significant impact on KS. The study provides a theoretical basis for promoting KS in the GSC and LC technology innovation.

The selection of project delivery systems is a complex decision-making process, which is also a critical task for owners. The complexity problem arises from the uncertainty of decision making environment and construction project itself. Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFS), as an extension from intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) to deal with uncertainty information, has attracted more scholars’ attention in the decision making area. In this paper, we develop three similarity measures (i.e., 1-type PFSs similarity measure, 2-type PFSs weighted similarity measure, 3-type PFSs weighted similarity measure), and investigate their properties. Then an improved TOPSIS decision making framework is further established with PFSs information, in which the proposed similarity measures are employed to measure the similarity degree between each alternative and negative ideal solution and positive ideal solution. Finally, a case study of the selection of project delivery systems is presented to proof the performance of the proposed decision making method.