Abstract: An insulation displacement connecting (IDC) terminal that allows wires to be parked in a retaining region thereof prior to being terminated within and IDC portion of the terminal. The retaining region of the terminal is generally a rounded longitudinal slot having a width which is slightly less than the outermost diameter of a conductor to be inserted into the terminal. The terminal which is designed with large fiat spring contacts located about a central slot, includes an IDC portion, which cuts into the insulation of the wire to establish contact. A slight gap in a top portion of the retaining region pulls apart and allows for insertion of a wire into the slot of the retaining region. The spring contacts of the terminal pull together and the gap is narrowed once the wire enters the retaining region, thus, preventing the wire from escaping through the gap. The spring contacts then close on the wire where it remains parked until such time as the wire is terminated within the IDC portion of the terminal.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining crystallization properties, such as the particle kinetics, of urine. A first feed solution is formulated as including synthetic urine plus an aliquot of natural urine. A second feed solution which includes synthetic urine is also formulated. The two feed solutions are combined in a continuous crystallizer and the particle densities or crystal populations of the contents of the crystallizer are measured. Finally, the particle kinetics, such as the nucleation and growth rate of the crystals, are calculated as a function of the measured particle densities. In the preferred embodiment, the first and second feed solutions each comprise synthetic urine plus an aliquot of natural urine, with the natural urine preferably having a concentration in the range of about three percent to thirty percent of the total.