Implementing Web-based instruction in a school of nursing: implications for faculty and students.

The World Wide Web, a rich educational resource that can promote and enhance student learning, is increasingly being used in nursing programs to deliver course content. When implementing Web-based instruction into the curriculum, it is essential to consider carefully the implications for faculty and student development needs so that the technology can be efficiently and effectively used to support student learning. Teaching a Web-based course is a new experience for many faculty and requires a reconceptualization of the faculty role. Faculty issues to consider when implementing Web-based instruction include instructional design concerns, faculty-student interactions, time and technology management skills, and student outcome evaluation. Students, especially those who have a preference for faculty-directed classroom learning, also will find student role challenges in Web-based learning. Time and technology management skills, student-faculty interactions, and becoming more self-directed in their learning are student role development needs. This article describes the strategies used by one school of nursing to meet faculty and student development needs when the RN-BSN completion program was redesigned for Web-based instruction.

Potential for chlorate interference in ion chromatographic determination of total nitrogen in natural waters following alkaline persulfate digestion.

Determination of total nitrogen in aqueous samples after thermal potassium peroxydisulfate (persulfate) digestion is a commonly used alternative to the tedious Kjeldahl procedure. When ion chromatography is used to quantify the nitrate formed during digestion, there is a potential for interference from a chlorate peak if the digested sample initially contained chloride in concentrations close to or greater than the concentration of nitrogen. It was determined that this interference can be avoided either by using chromatographic conditions which cleanly resolve the nitrate and chlorate peaks (e.g., the Dionex AG9-HG column) or by using digestion reagent concentrations chosen to maintain a high pH throughout the digestion. The second alternative is not a viable option for investigators using a single digestion for both total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) analysis.

Idiopathic enteropathy: an evaluation in rural Iran with an appraisal of nutrient loss.

Idiopathic enteropathy in the rural population of Iran was investigated through evaluation of 100 randomly selected apparently normal subjects. The evaluation included quantitation of the nutrient loss, presence of malabsorption, and small intestinal morphological abnormalities. The results show that: 1) there was no significant loss of major nutrients, 2) severe malabsorption was not present, 3) an enteropathy of unknown etiology was found in nearly one-third of the subjects, and 4) abnormalities in morphology did not necessarily mean presence of malabsorption.