At plasma densities lower than about 1018 cm-3, strictly speaking, the LTE model cannot be used when the electron temperature is calculated from measured spectral line intensity ratios. In this work a number of nitrogen spectral lines were studied at an electron density of about 1016 cm-3, and the results are discussed with reference to the LTE and semi-coronal models. A method is suggested for analyzing line intensity ratio data from plasmas in the semi-coronal regime.