Common Environment Research Articles

Human-influenced diets affect the gut microbiome of wild baboons

Industrialized diets that incorporate processed foods and are often high in simple sugars and fats and low in fiber have myriad health impacts, many of which may operate via impacts on the gut microbiota. Examining how these diets affect the gut microbiota can be challenging given that lab animal models experience altered environmental contexts, and human studies include a suite of co-varying cultural and environmental factors that are likely to shape the gut microbiota alongside diet. To complement these approaches, we compare the microbiomes of wild populations of olive baboons (Papio anubis) with differential access to human trash high in processed foods, simple sugars, and fats in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park. Baboons are a good model system since their microbiomes are compositionally similar to those of humans. Additionally, this population inhabits a common environment with different social groups consuming qualitatively different amounts of human trash, limiting variation in non-dietary factors. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing we find that baboons with unlimited access to human trash have reduced microbial alpha diversity and reduced relative abundances of fiber-degrading taxa such as Ruminococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Lachnospiraceae. In contrast, baboons with limited access to human trash have a microbiome more similar to that of baboons with no access to human trash. Our results suggest that while a human-influenced diet high in processed foods, simple sugars, and fats is sufficient to alter the microbiome in wild baboons, there is a minimum threshold of dietary alteration that must occur before the microbiome is substantially altered. We recommend that data from wild primate populations such as these be used to complement ongoing research on diet-microbiome-health interactions in humans and lab animal models.

Wood-Ljungdahl pathway found in novel marine Korarchaeota groups illuminates their evolutionary history.

Korarchaeota, due to its rarity in common environments, is one of the archaeal phyla that has received the least attention from researchers. It was previously thought to consist solely of strict thermophiles. However, our study provides genetic evidence for the presence of korarchaeal members in temperate subsurface seawater. Furthermore, a systematic reclassification of the Korarchaeota based on 16S rRNA genes and genomes has revealed three novel marine groups (Kor-6 to Kor-8) at the root of the Korarchaeota branch. Kor-6 contains microbes that are present in moderate temperatures. All three novel marine phyla possess genes for the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, and Kor-7 and Kor-8 possess fewer genes encoding oxygen resistance traits than other korarchaeal groups, suggesting a distinct lifestyle for these novel phyla. Our results, together with estimations of Korarchaeota divergence times, suggest that oxygen availability may be one of the important factors that have influenced the evolution of Korarchaeota. IMPORTANCE Korarchaeota were previously thought to inhabit exclusively high-temperature environments. However, our study provides genetic evidence for their unexpected presence in temperate marine waters. Through analysis of publicly available korarchaeal reference data, we have systematically reclassified Korarchaeota and identified the existence of three previously unknown marine groups (Kor-6, Kor-7, and Kor-8) at the root of the Korarchaeota branch. Comparative analysis of their gene content revealed that these novel groups exhibit a lifestyle distinct from other Korarchaeota. Specifically, they have the ability to fix carbon exclusively via the Wood-Ljungdahl (WL) pathway, and the genomes within Kor-7 and Kor-8 contain few genes encoding antioxidant enzymes, indicating their strictly anaerobic lifestyle. Further studies suggest that the genes related to methane metabolism and the WL pathway may have been inherited from a common ancestor of the Korarchaeota and that oxygen availability may be one of the important evolutionary factors that shaped the diversification of this archaeal phylum.

Watchful Eye or Just a Veil? Common Institutional Ownership and Environmental Information Disclosure Quality

As an important channel for the external stakeholder to understand the environmental performance of enterprises, corporate environmental information disclosure is not only an effective way to exercise social supervision but also an important mechanism to promote corporate environmental governance. However, Under China’s current environmental information disclosure model, irregular disclosures, ambiguity, and selective disclosure practices remain prevalent. Hence, it is crucial to seek solutions to improve the quality of environmental information disclosure. In recent years, the phenomenon of common institutional ownership has become increasingly widespread in the capital markets and has a significant impact on the strategic decisions of companies. This paper selects Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010-2021 as a research sample to examine the impact of common institutional ownership on the quality of environmental information disclosure. The study found that common institutional ownership can improve the quality of environmental information disclosure. The higher the degree of their linkage and the greater the shareholding, the more pronounced the synergistic effect. The findings remained valid after testing using propensity score matching (PSM) and changing the sample period. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the facilitating effect of common institutional ownership on the quality of environmental information disclosure is more pronounced in high-polluting firms and firms which stay in the growth and maturity stage. This paper enriches the research on the economic consequences of common institutional ownership in China and provides management implications for improving the environmental information disclosure system and promoting “genuine green” corporate social responsibility.

Results of statistical analysis of primary components concentrations in bulk chemical composition of ordinary chondrite groups

AbstractWe used two different methods of statistical analysis—cluster analysis and principal component analysis—to analyze the concentrations of principal chemical components (Si, Mg, Ca, Fe, Ni) and Co in ordinary chondrites. The analysis is based predominantly on published data (metadata). In total, chemical composition data from 646 ordinary chondrites were used in the statistical analysis. The aim of this analysis was to establish whether it would be possible or not to distinguish H, L, and LL chondrites based on the concentrations of major elements and Co in their bulk chemical compositions. It was also important to determine what conclusions such an analysis could enable to draw about matter differentiation in the formation environments of primordial parent bodies of particular ordinary chondrite groups (H, L, and LL). Another aim of the statistical analysis was to determine whether the distribution of Fe and Ni (with Co admixtures) is independent of petrographic types within particular groups of chondrites. This is of crucial importance for determining the distribution of FeNi(Co) ore occurrences in potential extraterrestrial deposits on modern asteroids—the sources of ordinary chondrites. The obtained results of statistical analyses confirmed that a clear‐cut distinction between particular groups of ordinary chondrites is only possible for group H, while distinguishing L chondrites from LL chondrites is not always obvious. The results of the statistical analyses relating to the question of the possible existence of several primordial parent bodies (formation environments) of each group of ordinary chondrites are consistent with the results of contemporary astronomical spectroscopy research. What is particularly interesting is obtaining indications of the existence of common formation environments of the matter of L and LL chondrites, possibly on a few primordial parent bodies. The statistical analyses indicate that there is no correlation between the concentration of principal chemical components and the petrographic type of ordinary chondrites. This proves homogenous distributions of these elements within the parent bodies of each group of ordinary chondrites. Hence, the distribution of these elements in individual present‐day asteroids is also homogenous.

Insights on physical behavior while working from home: An ecological momentary assessment study.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) has emerged as a common alternative work environment, but the possible influence on daily physical behavior (PB) (i.e., physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB)) remains unclear. This study aimed to examine daily associations between PB and the work environment (i.e., WFH, working at the office (WAO)), as well as to explore and identify patterns of PB within each work environment. An observational study using a dual-accelerometer system to continuously assess PB for at least 5 days was conducted. The sample consisted of 55 participants providing 276 days of assessment. Additional demographic, contextual, and psychological variables were measured via baseline questionnaire and several smartphone prompts per day. To analyze the effects of the work environment on PB, multilevel analyses were conducted. For the identification of patterns within each work environment, latent class trajectory modelling was applied. Associations between the work environment and various PA parameters were found, indicating that WFH has a negative effect on MVPA time, steps, and physical activity intensity (MET), but a positive effect on short PA bouts (≤5 min). No associations between the work environment and any SB parameter (i.e., SB time, SB breaks, SB bouts) were found. Latent class trajectory modelling revealed three MVPA patterns for days WFH, and two patterns for days WAO. Given the growing prevalence of WFH and the positive health effects associated with MVPA, daily-tailored solutions to enhance MPVA while WFH are urgently needed.

Study the charging process of moving quantum batteries inside cavity

In quantum mechanics, quantum batteries are devices that can store energy by utilizing the principles of quantum mechanics. While quantum batteries has been investigated largely theoretical, recent research indicates that it may be possible to implement such a device using existing technologies. The environment plays an important role in the charging of quantum batteries. If a strong coupling exists between the environment and the battery, then battery can be charged properly. It has also been demonstrated that quantum battery can be charged even in weak coupling regime just by choosing a suitable initial state for battery and charger. In this study, we investigate the charging process of open quantum batteries mediated by a common dissipative environment. We will consider a wireless-like charging scenario, where there is no external power and direct interaction between charger and battery. Moreover, we consider the case in which the battery and charger move inside the environment with a particular speed. Our results demonstrate that the movement of the quantum battery inside the environment has a negative effect on the performance of the quantum batteries during the charging process. It is also shown that the non-Markovian environment has a positive effect on improving battery performance.

Effects of aging and nitridation on microstructure and mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel

Understanding the effects of in-service microstructural changes in metal alloys on the mechanical performance and remaining life of equipment is a critical part of integrity management in industrial plants. However, the effects of processes such as carburization or nitridation are not accounted for in industry-standard life assessment methodologies such as those provided in the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1: Fitness-For-Service standard. This is problematic for the austenitic stainless steel Alloy 800H, which typically operates in the creep regime and has been reported to suffer nitriding during high-temperature service in air. Despite this being one of the most common service environments for 800H, the impact of nitriding on in-service performance and implications for remaining life assessment have not been well-studied for this alloy. In this work, we characterize the microstructures of as-received, aged, and nitrided Alloy 800H tube material, and correlate observations with room-temperature tensile properties and high-temperature creep behavior. We show that while the creep properties of aged 800H material can be captured by the widely-used MPC Project Omega creep model and API 579-1 Omega properties for 800H, nitrided material properties fall outside of the expected bounds, and therefore remaining life cannot be reliably predicted using this method without experimental data.

Quantum coherence and nonlocality of two qubits in the presence of a common dephasing environment

We study the coherence and quantum correlations for a system consisting of two interacting qubits under the effect of a common environment, where the system of qubits has the dephasing coupling with its surrounding. We study the dynamical behavior of the quantumness measures when the influence of the qubits’ interaction on the dephasing is analyzed. We display the effect of the qubit–qubit interaction and qubits–environment interaction on the measures considering the case of symmetry and asymmetry interaction between the qubits and environment. Finally, we explicitly illustrate the relation between the coherence and quantum correlations and show that quantum coherence and correlations can be preserved during the dynamics.

The Multi-Agent Transportation Problem

We introduce the multi-agent transportation (MAT) problem, where agents have to transport containers from their starting positions to their designated goal positions. Movement takes place in a common environment where collisions between agents and between containers must be avoided. In contrast to other frameworks such as multi-agent pathfinding (MAPF) or multi-agent pickup and delivery (MAPD), the agents are allowed to separate from the containers at any time, which can reduce the makespan and also allows for plans in scenarios that are unsolvable otherwise. We present a complexity analysis establishing the problem's NP-completeness and show how the problem can be reduced to a sequence of SAT problems when optimizing for makespan. A MAT solver is empirically evaluated with regard to varying input characteristics and movement constraints and compared to a MAPD solver that utilizes conflict-based search (CBS).

The exposure to volatile organic chemicals associates positively with rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study from the NHANES program.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease and closely associated with both genetic and environmental factors. Volatile organic chemicals (VOC), a common environment pollutant, was associated with some autoimmune diseases, while whether VOC exposure or which VOC leads to RA is yet clarified. A cross-sectional study using data from the 6 survey cycles (2005-2006, 2011-2012, 2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2017-2020) of NHANES program was performed. The RA or non-arthritis status of participant was identified through a questionnaire survey. The quantile logistic regression method was used for correlation analysis between VOC metabolites (VOCs) in urine and RA. The covariates included age, gender, race, educational level, marital status, total energy intake, physical activity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, urine creatinine, albumin and marihuana use. A total of 9536 participants (aged 20 to 85) with 15 VOCs, comprising 618 RA and 8918 non-arthritis participants, was finally included for analysis. Participants in the RA group showed higher VOCs in urine than that in the non-arthritis group. A positive association between 2 VOCs (AMCC: Q4: OR=2.173, 95%CI: 1.021, 4.627. 3HPMA: Q2: OR=2.286, 95%CI: 1.207 - 4.330; Q4: OR=2.663, 95%CI: 1.288 -5.508.) and RA was detected in the model 3, which was independent of all the covariates. The relative parent compounds of the two VOCs included N,N-Dimethylformamide and acrolein. These findings suggested that the VOC exposure significantly associated with RA, providing newly epidemiological evidence for the establishment that environmental pollutants associated with RA. And also, more prospective studies and related experimental studies are needed to further validate the conclusions of this study.

Microbiota members from body sites of dairy cows are largely shared within individual hosts throughout lactation but sharing is limited in the herd

BackgroundHost-associated microbes are major determinants of the host phenotypes. In the present study, we used dairy cows with different scores of susceptibility to mastitis with the aim to explore the relationships between microbiota composition and different factors in various body sites throughout lactation as well as the intra- and inter-animal microbial sharing.ResultsMicrobiotas from the mouth, nose, vagina and milk of 45 lactating dairy cows were characterized by metataxonomics at four time points during the first lactation, from 1-week pre-partum to 7 months post-partum. Each site harbored a specific community that changed with time, likely reflecting physiological changes in the transition period and changes in diet and housing. Importantly, we found a significant number of microbes shared among different anatomical sites within each animal. This was between nearby anatomic sites, with up to 32% of the total number of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) of the oral microbiota shared with the nasal microbiota but also between distant ones (e.g. milk with nasal and vaginal microbiotas). In contrast, the share of microbes between animals was limited (< 7% of ASVs shared by more than 50% of the herd for a given site and time point). The latter widely shared ASVs were mainly found in the oral and nasal microbiotas. These results thus indicate that despite a common environment and diet, each animal hosted a specific set of bacteria, supporting a tight interplay between each animal and its microbiota. The score of susceptibility to mastitis was slightly but significantly related to the microbiota associated to milk suggesting a link between host genetics and microbiota.ConclusionsThis work highlights an important sharing of microbes between relevant microbiotas involved in health and production at the animal level, whereas the presence of common microbes was limited between animals of the herd. This suggests a host regulation of body-associated microbiotas that seems to be differently expressed depending on the body site, as suggested by changes in the milk microbiota that were associated to genotypes of susceptibility to mastitis.

Non-classical correlations of accelerated observers interacting with a classical stochastic noise beyond the single mode approximation

This paper investigates the behaviour of the quantum correlations for an accelerated two-qubit system during its interaction with a classical stochastic field, utilizing the Wigner function and concurrence. The non-classical behaviour is indicated by negative values of the Wigner function, while the degree of entanglement is demonstrated by the concurrence. To consider acceleration and interaction with a common or independent environment, we discard the single-mode approximation and utilize the Unruh construction of the quantum field mode in our analysis. Our results suggest that coherence suppression is caused by the acceleration effect, noise strength, and noise frequency. Through an examination of quantum concurrence, this study analyses the level of quantum entanglement that corresponds positively with negative values of the Wigner function. The findings indicate that coherence degradation in the initial system is reduced when observers interact independently with their environments, as opposed to interacting with a common environment. Additionally, the acceleration of both observers has an impact on coherence reduction. During system evolution, the Wigner function displays collapse and reappearance behaviour, while quantum entanglement undergoes local collapse and revival phenomena. Notably, common noise situations exhibit more rapid variation in both the Wigner function and entanglement compared to independent noise configurations.

Elevation provenance affects photosynthesis and its acclimation to temperature in the high-Andes alpine herb Phacelia secunda.

We analysed whether Phacelia secunda populations from different elevations exhibit intrinsic traits associated with diffusive and biochemical components of photosynthesis, and if they differ in acclimation of photosynthesis to warmer temperatures. We hypothesized that P. secunda will have similar photosynthetic performance regardless of altitudinal provenance and that plants from high elevations will have a lower photosynthetic acclimation capacity to higher temperature than plants from low elevations. Plants from 1600, 2800 and 3600 m a.s.l. in the central Chilean Andes were collected and grown under two temperature regimes (20/16 °C and 30/26 °C day/night). The following photosynthetic traits were measured in each plant for the two temperature regimes: AN , gs , gm , Jmax , Vcmax , Rubisco carboxylation kcat c . Under a common growth environment, plants from the highest elevation had slightly lower CO2 assimilation rates compared to lower elevation plants. While diffusive components of photosynthesis increased with elevation provenance, the biochemical component decreased, suggesting compensation that explains the similar rates of photosynthesis among elevation provenances. Plants from high elevations had lower photosynthetic acclimation to warmer temperatures compared to plants from lower elevations, and these responses were related to elevational changes in diffusional and biochemical components of photosynthesis. Plants of P. secunda from different elevations maintain photosynthetic traits when grown in a common environment, suggesting low plasticity to respond to future climate changes. The fact that high elevation plants had lower photosynthetic acclimation to warmer temperature suggests higher susceptibility to increases in temperature associated with global warming.

Honey bees exhibit greater patch fidelity than bumble bees when foraging in a common environment

AbstractAnimals commonly exhibit a tendency to return to previously visited locations. Such tendency is manifested at different scales, for example, fidelity to a site or fidelity to a specific patch within a site. Although patch fidelity has important implications for the pollinators and the plants they visit, our understanding of patch fidelity, and the extent to which it varies among bee species, remains limited. Here, we used a mark–reobservation approach to compare patch fidelity and patch size preference between one bumble bee and one honey bee species foraging on patches of Medicago sativa L. Honey bees exhibited greater patch fidelity (76%) than bumble bees (47%); they were more likely to return to the patch where they were marked. Patch size affected the level of patch fidelity for bumble bees but not for honey bees. Bumble bees were more likely to return to larger rather than smaller patches. In addition to patch fidelity, we detected preference of bees for the larger patches. Bees visited the larger patches more often than the smaller patches. These results add patch fidelity to the already known repertoire of differences in foraging strategies between a bumble bee and a honey bee species. It also indicates how the simultaneous study of distinct species in a similar environment can reveal important previously undetected information about their behavioral ecology. Observed differences in patch fidelity and patch size preferences may have important implications for crop pollination and conservation habitat design.

A Functional Element-Naming Approach for BIM Elements in Building Envelope Systems

Building information modeling (BIM) is becoming a comprehensive, collaborative process in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. BIM’s purpose is collaboration between project participants while integrating information and completing successful projects. Persistent and recognizable names are used as direct element identifiers in BIM. Currently, element names are manually keyed in by participants. Common data environments (CDE) are recommended by BIM standards for managing information. We discuss the collaborative environment framework in construction. Participants retrieve data using element names in data environments. To reduce manually naming BIM elements, we propose an approach that ensures a unique, recognizable name. The approach strategy is summarized in four points: (1) geometric forms are separated from geometric properties, (2) list data structures are utilized to store naming conventions, creating element names to link databases, (3) project data are distributed to participants in centralized and distributed data environments, and (4) the Grasshopper program is used to create unique element names, which are stored in a database. We present a case study of a physical curtain wall project for verification. A discussion and analysis of the five procedures, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, of our approach in diverse collaboration environments are explored.

Translocation of shorebird siblings shows intraspecific variation in migration routines to arise after fledging

Although many recent tracking studies have uncovered considerable variation in the migratory routines of birds,1,2 the source of this variation is surprisingly poorly discussed.3 We hypothesize that a wealth of possible factors, including factors other than genetics, translate into these variable outcomes. To demonstrate how factors that are not inherited can shape migratory routine during development, we performed a translocation and delayed-release experiment with juvenile, hand-raised black-tailed godwits Limosa limosa limosa that were carefully matched for ancestral background, releasing siblings 1,000km apart. Translocated juveniles adopted the spatiotemporal pattern of migration that is habitual for the population at the release location rather than the origin. This leads to the rejection of the hypothesis that the migration of inexperienced birds is only shaped by pre-release factors, including genes, maternal material in the eggs, and a common environment from hatching to fledging. Instead, these findings are consistent with inexperienced migrants also developing their knowledge and capacities through contextual individual learning,4 the precise nature of which now warrants study. The fact that hand-raised godwits, depending on the context in which they are released, can be induced to show different migratory routines, wintering sites, and breeding locations from their siblings indicates that processes during development offer the substrate for rapid adaptation of long-distance migration.

Genetic improvement of speed across distance categories in thoroughbred racehorses in Great Britain

Several studies over recent decades have reported a lack of contemporary improvement in thoroughbred racehorse speed, despite apparent additive genetic variance and putatively strong selection. More recently, it has been shown that some phenotypic improvement is ongoing, but rates are low in general and particularly so over longer distances. Here we used pedigree-based analysis of 692,534 records from 76,960 animals to determine whether these phenotypic trends are underpinned by genetic selection responses, and to evaluate the potential for more rapid improvement. We show that thoroughbred speed in Great Britain is only weakly heritable across sprint (h2 = 0.124), middle-distance (h2 = 0.122) and long-distance races (h2 = 0.074), but that mean predicted breeding values are nonetheless increasing across cohorts born between 1995 and 2012 (and racing from 1997 to 2014). For all three race distance categories, estimated rates of genetic improvement are statistically significant and also greater than can be explained by drift. Taken together our results show genetic improvement for thoroughbred speed is ongoing but slow, likely due to a combination of long generation times and low heritabilities. Additionally, estimates of realised selection intensities raises the possibility that the contemporary selection emerging from the collective actions of horse breeders is weaker than previously assumed, particularly over long distances. We suggest that unmodelled common environment effects may have upwardly biased estimates of heritability, and thus expected selection response, previously.

Conservation of the restricted expression of Brassicaceae Bsister-like genes in seeds requires a transposable element in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Changes in transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) can alter the spatio-temporal expression pattern and transcript abundance of genes. Loss and gain of TFBSs were shown to cause shifts in expression patterns in numerous cases. However, we know little about the evolution of extended regulatory sequences incorporating many TFBSs. We compare, across the crucifers (Brassicaceae, cabbage family), the sequences between the translated regions of Arabidopsis Bsister- (ABS-) like MADS-box genes (including paralogous GOA-like genes) and the next gene upstream, as an example of family wide evolution of putative regulatory regions (PURRs). ABS-like genes are essential for integument development of ovules and endothelium formation in seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana. A combination of motif based GO-enrichment and reporter gene analysis using A. thaliana as common trans-regulatory environment allows analysis of selected Brassicaceae Bsister gene PURRs. Comparison of TFBS of transcriptionally active ABS-like genes with those of transcriptionally largely inactive GOA-like genes shows that the number of in silico predicted TF binding sites (TFBSs) is similar between paralogs, emphasizing the importance of experimental verification for in silico characterization of TFBS activity and analysis of their evolution. Further, our data show highly conserved expression of Brassicaceae ABS-like genes almost exclusively in the chalazal region of ovules. The Arabidopsis-specific insertion of a transposable element (TE) into the ABS PURRs is required for stabilizing this spatially restricted expression, while other Brassicaceae achieve chalaza-specific expression without TE insertion. We hypothesize that the chalaza-specific expression of ABS is regulated by CREs provided by the TE.

A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Between the Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) Juveniles Abundance and Environmental Parameters off the Moroccan Coast

A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Between the Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) Juveniles Abundance and Environmental Parameters off the Moroccan Coast

Case Study of Remodelling the As-Built Documentation of a Railway Construction into the BIM and GIS Environment

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a modern approach to managing the process of preparation, realization and operation of building objects including their documentation throughout their life cycle, based on database agenda platform. The aim of our research is to analyze and innovate existing engineering procedures with the aim: 1. to remodel the existing CAD documentation into BIM for the purpose of public procurement, 2. to provide guaranteed data to the IS of the Digital Map of Public Administration and 3. to provide data for the design of new railway structures or their reconstruction. The aim of the case study was to evaluate the effectiveness of remodelling the existing as-built documentation of a railway construction into a common BIM data environment (CDE), in which further subsequent construction agenda should be managed for the remaining period of its life cycle. Using the documentation for construction realization of the railway station Šumice, this 3D documentation was remodeled into the BIM data environment CDE and alternatively also into the 2D GIS environment. The BIM data standard developed by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure was analyzed during the documentation reworking. An important parameter of the documentation rework was the use of a geodetic reference system fully compatible with the cadastral system in the Czech Republic. It turned out that the general data standard is only partially applicable for railway structures containing many special objects and many objects requiring individual classification. The remodelling of existing graphical data proved faster and more efficient in a GIS environment (layer oriented) compared to the need for 3D remodelling in a BIM CDE (object oriented). Experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of remodelling underground technical infrastructure objects, while the visible surface situation is often more effectively captured by current progressive bulk data acquisition technologies. In a CDE environment, existing as-built documentation data can be efficiently stored and administered and progressively, for the procurement and execution of construction, purposefully remodeled only to the extent required in BIM or converted into an exchangeable Digital Technical Map (DTM) format for public administration.