Does file sharing reduce music CD sales?: A case of Japan

File sharing systems such as Napster and KaZaA are accused by the recording industry of causing declines in sales of music CDs, and recently users of these systems are under lawsuit attack. However, there is not sufficient evidence that file sharing systems are responsible for the recent decline in music CD sales. Two previous studies examined micro data of sales and downloads and found mixed results regarding the connection between file sharing and CD sales (Blackburn, 2004; Oberholzer and Strumpf, 2004). The current essay estimated the effect of file sharing systems on music CD sales using micro data from Japan in 2004. Japan's file sharing system ("Winny") is almost completely decentralized and highly anonymous compared with ones addressed in the two previous studies, thus Japanese users can download music files with less concern about lawsuits. The goal of this research is to examine the effect of file sharing on music CD sales in such an illegal-copy-friendly file sharing system. Based on micro data of CD sales and numbers of downloads, we found that there was very little evidence that file sharing reduces music CD sales in Japan. We controlled simultaneous bias between sales and downloads by instrumental variables, but did not find correlation between CD sales and numbers of downloads. Although there were large differences in the numbers of downloads among CD titles, these differences did not affect CD sales. We also carried out a user survey on file sharing and CD purchases with consideration to the potential bias of respondents trying to understate their illegal copying activity. This survey also showed that file sharing had very limited influence on CD purchases.Copyright, File sharing, P-to-P, Intellectual Property Rights, Music, Entertainment Industry

A Finite Element Formulation of The Coupled Thermoelastic-Plastic Problems

A finite element formulation for the thermoelastic-plastic material is presented in the incremental form with thermomechanical considerations. Emphasis is focused upon the constitutive relation by using the generalized yield function. The governing equations for finite deformation containing the increments of displacement and temperature as unknowns are deduced for the material

Temperature Dependent Analysis of Elastoplastic Thermal Stresses by Finite Element Method

The finite element formulation was developed for the elastoplastic thermal stress problem by employing a loading function composed of stress, plastic strain and temperature. Then, the technique of utilizing the formulation was discussed. The generalized plastic stress-strain matrix for the strain incremental theory was experssed explicitly in terms of the loading function ; and it was found that the additional nodal force due to the temperature dependence of the loading function should be considered in the matrix equilibrium equation. It was also shown that the transformation stresses during quenching could be analysed by taking account of the dependence of both temperature and cooling velocity on the coefficient of thermal expansion. The formulated analysis was applied to the elastoplastic thermal stress problem of the thick-walled cylinder subjected to an unsteady radial temperature gradient. Good agreement was obtained between the calculated residual stresses and experimental values measured by Sachs' boring-out technique

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REFLECTION INTENSITY AND PHOTOTAXIS IN NEWLY HATCHED LARVAE OF THE SILKWORM, BOMBYX MORI L. (LEPIDOPTERA; BOMBYCIDAE)

ArticleJournal of the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University. Ser. A, Biology 24: 1-9(1985)departmental bulletin pape

The X-linked tumor suppressor TSPX downregulates cancer-drivers/oncogenes in prostate cancer in a C-terminal acidic domain dependent manner.

TSPX is a tumor suppressor gene located at Xp11.22, a prostate cancer susceptibility locus. It is ubiquitously expressed in most tissues but frequently downregulated in various cancers, including lung, brain, liver and prostate cancers. The C-terminal acidic domain (CAD) of TSPX is crucial for the tumor suppressor functions, such as inhibition of cyclin B/CDK1 phosphorylation and androgen receptor transactivation. Currently, the exact role of the TSPX CAD in transcriptional regulation of downstream genes is still uncertain. Using different variants of TSPX, we showed that overexpression of either TSPX, that harbors a CAD, or a CAD-truncated variant (TSPX[∆C]) drastically retarded cell proliferation in a prostate cancer cell line LNCaP, but cell death was induced only by overexpression of TSPX. Transcriptome analyses showed that TSPX or TSPX[∆C] overexpression downregulated multiple cancer-drivers/oncogenes, including MYC and MYB, in a CAD-dependent manner and upregulated various tumor suppressors in a CAD-independent manner. Datamining of transcriptomes of prostate cancer specimens in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset confirmed the negative correlation between the expression level of TSPX and those of MYC and MYB in clinical prostate cancer, thereby supporting the hypothesis that the CAD of TSPX plays an important role in suppression of cancer-drivers/oncogenes in prostatic oncogenesis

Neutrino mixing from finite modular groups

We study the lepton flavor models, whose flavor symmetries are finite subgroups of the modular group such as $S_3$ and $A_4$. In our models, couplings are also nontrivial representations of these groups and modular functions of the modulus. We study the possibilities that these models realize realistic values of neutrino masses and lepton mixing angles.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Do Illegal Copies of Movies Reduce the Revenue of Legal Products? The case of TV animation in Japan (Japanese)

Whether or not illegal copies circulating on the internet reduce the sales of legal products has been a hot issue in the entertainment industries. Though much empirical research has been conducted on the music industry, research on the movie industry has been very limited. This paper examines the effects of the movie sharing site Youtube and file sharing program Winny on DVD sales and rentals of Japanese TV animation programs. Estimated equations of 105 anime episodes show that (1) Youtube viewing does not negatively affect DVD rentals, and it appears to help raise DVD sales; and (2) although Winny file sharing negatively affects DVD rentals, it does not affect DVD sales. Youtube's effect of boosting DVD sales can be seen after the TV's broadcasting of the series has concluded, which suggests that not just a few people learned about the program via a Youtube viewing. In other words YouTube can be interpreted as a promotion tool for DVD sales.

Software Choice and Productivity in Japan - Custom Software vs. Packaged Software (Japanese)

The emphasis on custom software is often cited as a reason why Japanese software makers lack international competitiveness, however, the dominance of packaged software in the Japanese market is also a major contributing factor. Custom software is said to be inefficient compared with packaged software in terms of cost and quality because it can't derive benefit from economies of scale and global market competition. And although U.S. firms changed their IT investment from custom software to packaged software in the 1980s, Japanese firms still continue to use custom software. So, why do Japanese firms continue to use custom software, when it is believed to be antiquated? This paper aims to determine why Japanese firms stick to custom software by analyzing industry-based data from software-user firms in Japan. Unexpectedly, the results show that custom software is an efficient choice for Japanese firms. Although there are some negative reasons for choosing custom software such as low IT literacy of workers and network externality, the main reason for choosing custom software is to reflect the firm-specific knowhow on the information system. Custom software is suitable for reflecting firm specific knowhow because it is designed exclusively for a specific firm. This conclusion is supported by the striking fact that Japanese firms using custom software show higher productivity than firms using packaged software. Since it is unlikely that software choice causes an increase in productivity, we should say that Japanese firms with high productivity tend to choose custom software. The competitiveness of Japanese firms comes from the accumulated firm specific knowhow of long-term employees, making custom software an efficient choice to utilize the knowhow of these workers. Conversely, the competitiveness of U.S. firms comes from quick resource reallocation of workers and capital, making packaged software an efficient choice for U.S. firms because of its short lead time and standardization. We find that the difference in software choice between Japanese and U.S. firms is based on each firm's attempt to maximize their own competitive advantage.

Influence of input power in Ar/H2 thermal plasma with silicon powder by numerical simulation

Numerical simulation in inductively coupled thermal plasma was made on the temperature distribution in argon (Ar)+hydrogen (H2) induction thermal plasma torch with silicon (Si) powder injection to obtain the temperature distribution and gas flow fields. The ICTP model was used in this research because it has benefit of good repeatability and no contamination process. Interactions between ICTP and injected powder are very complicated to be understood only by related experiments. Influence of input power in ICTP was numerically investigated on thermal plasma temperature fields and powder evaporation. The temperature distributions of thermal plasma and Si vapor distribution were compared at input powers of 20 kW, 30 kW, and 40 kW. Results indicated that higher input power increases the temperature of the thermal plasma with doughnut shape but it slightly enhances evaporation of the powder at the center axis of the plasma torch