An appropriate level of detail for each of the three ages of interest will be determined, and special care will be taken in terms of developmental anatomy during segmentation.  Because whole body medical images are rarely acquired in medical diagnostic procedures, each of the three whole bodies will be composed of component parts from different children.  Appropriate geometrical scaling methods will be used to convert all component parts to the average size for a child of that particular age, based on available anthropometric data.  Then, the component surfaces will be compiled into a complete body.

By creating the geometrical surfaces of the whole body in this manner before meshing, as opposed to separate component models that are meshed and then combined, mesh compatibility between components will be ensured. After completion of the surface contours by WSU, UAB will use their expertise and facilities to mesh the surfaces and apply material properties from the literature.  Appropriate methods for the determination of material constitutive laws will be investigated.