Portable Document Format (PDF)                         Home
Why we use PDF 
Many reports and graphics placed on this website are created in
Portable Document Format (PDF).  PDF is used because it maintains the original look and feel of large documents, and allows us to place more publications on the web in a quick and efficient manner. Further, PDF products are independent of
platforms, applications, and distribution media. 

How to obtain a PDF Reader 
Versions of Acrobat Reader exist for all major computer platforms,
including Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME,
Macintosh, Sun, UNIX and several other operating systems. To download the reader, you'll need a computer and a Web browser (such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) connected to the Internet. If you are using a modem to connect to the Internet, it may take you extra time to complete the download. Please follow the instructions on the Adobe Acrobat download page to install the Acrobat Reader. 
Click Here to go to the Adobe PDF Download Service

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Following are the System Requirements for Acrobat Reader 5.0: 

Windows System Requirements
* Intel® Pentium® processor
* Microsoft® Windows® 95 OSR 2.0, Windows 98 SE, Windows
Millennium, Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 5, or Windows
2000
* 64 MB of RAM
* 24 MB of available hard-disk space (70 MB additional for Asian
fonts recommended)
Macintosh System Requirements
* PowerPC® processor
* Mac OS software version 8.6(*), 9.0.4, 9.1, or OS X(*),(* Some
features may not be available due to OS limitations)
* 64 MB of RAM
* 24 MB of available hard-disk space (70 MB additional for Asian
fonts recommended) 

Download the Adobe Acrobat Reader software now! This reader is free of charge. 

Having problems with PDF Files? 
Should you experience PDF files appearing as a blank window within
Internet Explorer after downloading and are using Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or earlier, please upgrade to a later version.

If this does not resolve the issue please follow the following steps:

Use the "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" option to download the
PDF file directly to your hard drive and bypass the Acrobat Reader
plug-in. 

1. Using the right-side mouse button click on the file (click on the title link) you are interested in.

2. Select the "save target as" option in Internet Explorer, or "save link as" in Netscape.

3. Save as type should be "Adobe Acrobat Document" or "all files."

4. Make sure you name the file (or accept the name supplied).

5. Know the location of where you are saving it.

6. Hit save.

7. Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file after downloading. 

Accessibility and PDF's 

Adobe Systems, Inc. is producing various products designed to make PDF documents accessible to persons using screen reading software. Their accessibility webpages describe their efforts. They also have a free downloadable accessibility plug-in called, MakeAccessible. This plug-in runs under Microsoft Windows 95 OSR 2.0, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0 with SP 5 or SP 6, or Windows 2000.
Each system should have at least 64 MB (128 MB recommended) of RAM per processor, 200 MB of virtual memory, and 870 K of disk space available. The MakeAccessible Plug-in creates a tagged Adobe PDF file from an untagged PDF file. This allows a pdf document to be read by a screen reader for greater accessibility. 

Other Acrobat Add-ons 

Once you've downloaded and installed the Acrobat Reader, you'll be able to view PDF files simply by clicking on the link to the PDF file in your browser. Either the browser will handle the PDF file, or it will bring up another program for viewing the PDF file. Either way, a special window will appear that contains buttons that work only for PDF files. Use these buttons to navigate through the file. 

If you want to print the PDF file, you must use the print button located within the Adobe Acrobat viewer (usually this is just above the document on the left side). Use of the browser print button or the browser's "File, Print" command will not result in a correct printout. 

ZIP Format Archive Files 
Why we use ZIP 
A Zip format allows either extremely large files, or files created in formats no longer widely used, to be combined and compressed and thus downloaded with more speed and ease. The user requires an "unzip" utility to extract files from an archive (all files for downloading have been compressed using zip archiving and compression). 

How to obtain a ZIP Extractor 
To acquire the decompressing utility for your computer's operating system, click on the appropriate link below: 

Windows
Download a trial version of Winzip

Macintosh
Download a zip/unzip utility for Macintosh (MacZip)