Various music questions

[MaestroUGC]

Nope, play it as read, repeats and all unless otherwise noted.

[Jompa]

5) Technically you're only supposed to play the repeat the first time you pass it. If there is another repeat back to before that repeat, or a D.S./D.C. then you're not supposed to repeat and already-repeated section this time around too, UNLESS it says that you should. Often it is also marked "senza rep" or something like that after the D.S. to ensure that you don't, or in case someone didn't know that you're not supposed to do so. Though I bet there are cases where the composer/arranger didn't think of this, so often it's smart to investigate anyways.

7) Depends a lot on the music. For example: I kinda specialize in big band music:
Here it's normal to use a lot of artuiculations, and the >, along with the _, is the most common. Pretty much on all notes that should be stressed, like syncopations and stuff, have a > over it. The ^ is rather used for those really violent and short tutti notes, most often on the beats, and will also be played a bit differently.
Personally I also variate between the two when I write the drum part: I use the > for important hits that is played along with the band, and the ^ for when it's pretty much the drummer alone that is playing an important hit alone without the band (like a strong snare drum hit a beat before the rest of the band comes inn, for example).
But it depends on the music. They're both accents that means "play strong and articulated", and are used kinda differently, but I wouldn't go for comparing them every time one should be used - usually, one of them "fits" that note better than the other does, but it won't make a big difference which you choose.