The invention provides a method for the construction of a civil engineering structure comprising first and second superimposed components. A catalyst support prepared by contacting a colloidal silica suspension and a titanium-containing compound under acidic conditions to form a mixture, and contacting the mixture with a basic material in an amount sufficient to increase the pH of the mixture to about 7. The authenticating apparatus then verifies authenticity of the authenticated apparatus based on the verification data and scrambled data received from the authenticated apparatus and each authenticated apparatus’s or each user’s authentication data stored in the authenticating apparatus.