def get_stay(start,stop,loc,slope=0):     
    """ 
    Assigns values to attribute as key/value-pairs in a dict.

    :param start: [float] time as beginning of stay
    :param stop:  [float] time at end of stay
    :param loc:   [float] location of stay
    :param slope: [float] unused in a stay; retained here for generality
    
    :return: [dict] A dict of attribute-value pairs for the stays
    """
    
    return {"type": "stay", "loc":  loc, "start": start, "end":  stop, "slope":  slope}