diff --git a/ocrolib/common.py b/ocrolib/common.py
index 614add07..fcd03dd1 100644
--- a/ocrolib/common.py
+++ b/ocrolib/common.py
@@ -621,8 +621,10 @@ def ocropus_find_file(fname, gz=True):
 
     possible_prefixes.append("/usr/local/share/ocropus")
 
-    possible_prefixes.append(os.path.join(
-        sysconfig.get_config_var("datarootdir"), "ocropus"))
+# datarootdir is None in windows so don't add it to search list
+    if sysconfig.get_config_var("datarootdir") is not None:
+        possible_prefixes.append(os.path.join(
+            sysconfig.get_config_var("datarootdir"), "ocropus"))
 
 
     # Unique entries with preserved order in possible_prefixes
@@ -765,37 +767,6 @@ def ustrg2unicode(u,lig=ligatures.lig):
                 result += "<%d>"%value
     return result
 
-### code for instantiation native components
-
-def pyconstruct(s):
-    """Constructs a Python object from a constructor, an expression
-    of the form x.y.z.name(args).  This ensures that x.y.z is imported.
-    In the future, more forms of syntax may be accepted."""
-    env = {}
-    if "(" not in s:
-        s += "()"
-    path = s[:s.find("(")]
-    if "." in path:
-        module = path[:path.rfind(".")]
-        print("import", module)
-        exec "import "+module in env
-    return eval(s,env)
-
-def mkpython(name):
-    """Tries to instantiate a Python class.  Gives an error if it looks
-    like a Python class but can't be instantiated.  Returns None if it
-    doesn't look like a Python class."""
-    if name is None or len(name)==0:
-        return None
-    elif type(name) is not str:
-        return name()
-    elif name[0]=="=":
-        return pyconstruct(name[1:])
-    elif "(" in name or "." in name:
-        return pyconstruct(name)
-    else:
-        return None
-
 ################################################################
 ### loading and saving components
 ################################################################
diff --git a/ocrolib/lstm.py b/ocrolib/lstm.py
index 3d070465..cb3e05f2 100644
--- a/ocrolib/lstm.py
+++ b/ocrolib/lstm.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 from ocrolib.exceptions import RecognitionError
 from ocrolib.edist import levenshtein
-import nutils
+import utils
 import unicodedata
 import sys
 from scipy.ndimage import measurements,filters
@@ -92,17 +92,6 @@ def sumouter(us,vs,lo=-1.0,hi=1.0,out=None):
         result += outer(clip(u,lo,hi),v)
     return result
 
-def sumprod(us,vs,lo=-1.0,hi=1.0,out=None):
-    """Sum the element-wise products of the `us` and `vs`.
-    Values are clipped into the range `[lo,hi]`.
-    This is mainly used for computing weight updates
-    in logistic regression layers."""
-    assert len(us[0])==len(vs[0])
-    result = out or zeros(len(us[0]))
-    for u,v in zip(us,vs):
-        result += clip(u,lo,hi)*v
-    return result
-
 class Network:
     """General interface for networks. This mainly adds convenience
     functions for `predict` and `train`.
@@ -472,13 +461,13 @@ def backward_py(n,N,ni,ns,na,deltas,
             sourceerr[t] += dot(gferr[t],WGF)
         sourceerr[t] += dot(goerr[t],WGO)
         sourceerr[t] += dot(cierr[t],WCI)
-    DWIP = nutils.sumprod(gierr[1:n],state[:n-1],out=DWIP)
-    DWFP = nutils.sumprod(gferr[1:n],state[:n-1],out=DWFP)
-    DWOP = nutils.sumprod(goerr[:n],state[:n],out=DWOP)
-    DWGI = nutils.sumouter(gierr[:n],source[:n],out=DWGI)
-    DWGF = nutils.sumouter(gferr[1:n],source[1:n],out=DWGF)
-    DWGO = nutils.sumouter(goerr[:n],source[:n],out=DWGO)
-    DWCI = nutils.sumouter(cierr[:n],source[:n],out=DWCI)
+    DWIP = utils.sumprod(gierr[1:n],state[:n-1],out=DWIP)
+    DWFP = utils.sumprod(gferr[1:n],state[:n-1],out=DWFP)
+    DWOP = utils.sumprod(goerr[:n],state[:n],out=DWOP)
+    DWGI = utils.sumouter(gierr[:n],source[:n],out=DWGI)
+    DWGF = utils.sumouter(gferr[1:n],source[1:n],out=DWGF)
+    DWGO = utils.sumouter(goerr[:n],source[:n],out=DWGO)
+    DWCI = utils.sumouter(cierr[:n],source[:n],out=DWCI)
 
 class LSTM(Network):
     """A standard LSTM network. This is a direct implementation of all the forward
diff --git a/ocropus-rpred b/ocropus-rpred
index 0e7944d8..1e0b576f 100755
--- a/ocropus-rpred
+++ b/ocropus-rpred
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 from __future__ import print_function
 
-
 import traceback
 import codecs
 import os.path
@@ -13,7 +12,6 @@ from collections import Counter
 from collections import OrderedDict as OD
 import json
 
-
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import numpy as np
 from scipy.ndimage import measurements