diff --git a/conf/horn-env.sh b/conf/horn-env.sh
index c60c2aa..279a8c6 100644
--- a/conf/horn-env.sh
+++ b/conf/horn-env.sh
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@
 # Set environment variables here.
 
 # The java implementation to use.  Required.
-export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle
+# export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork.java
index 26e815f..85ad443 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork.java
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@
 
   protected LearningStyle learningStyle;
 
+  protected float dropRate;
+
   public AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork() {
     this.regularizationWeight = DEFAULT_REGULARIZATION_WEIGHT;
     this.momentumWeight = DEFAULT_MOMENTUM_WEIGHT;
@@ -259,4 +261,8 @@
     WritableUtils.writeEnum(output, this.learningStyle);
   }
 
+  public void setDropRateOfInputLayer(float dropRate) {
+    this.dropRate = dropRate;
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/HornJob.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/HornJob.java
index 3912b67..82343fe 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/HornJob.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/HornJob.java
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@
 
 public class HornJob extends BSPJob {
 
-  LayeredNeuralNetwork neuralNetwork;
+  AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork neuralNetwork;
 
+  @Deprecated
   public HornJob(HamaConfiguration conf, Class<?> exampleClass)
       throws IOException {
     super(conf);
@@ -40,6 +41,17 @@
     neuralNetwork = new LayeredNeuralNetwork();
   }
 
+  public HornJob(HamaConfiguration conf,
+      Class<? extends AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork> neuralNetworkClass,
+      Class<?> exampleClass)
+      throws IOException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException {
+    this.setJarByClass(exampleClass);
+
+    // default local file block size 10mb
+    this.getConfiguration().set("fs.local.block.size", "10358951");
+    neuralNetwork = neuralNetworkClass.newInstance();
+  }
+
   public void inputLayer(int featureDimension) {
     addLayer(featureDimension, null, null);
     neuralNetwork.setDropRateOfInputLayer(1);
@@ -106,7 +118,7 @@
     this.neuralNetwork.setRegularizationWeight(regularizationWeight);
   }
 
-  public LayeredNeuralNetwork getNeuralNetwork() {
+  public AbstractLayeredNeuralNetwork getNeuralNetwork() {
     return neuralNetwork;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/LayeredNeuralNetwork.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/LayeredNeuralNetwork.java
index 6f7aa70..0e389ca 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/LayeredNeuralNetwork.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/core/LayeredNeuralNetwork.java
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@
 
   private List<Neuron<?>[]> neurons = new ArrayList<Neuron<?>[]>();
 
-  private float dropRate;
   private long iterations;
 
   public LayeredNeuralNetwork() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/examples/MultiLayerPerceptron.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/examples/MultiLayerPerceptron.java
index 5f3403b..2c45673 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/examples/MultiLayerPerceptron.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/horn/examples/MultiLayerPerceptron.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.hama.HamaConfiguration;
 import org.apache.horn.core.Constants.TrainingMethod;
 import org.apache.horn.core.HornJob;
+import org.apache.horn.core.LayeredNeuralNetwork;
 import org.apache.horn.core.Neuron;
 import org.apache.horn.core.Synapse;
 import org.apache.horn.funcs.CrossEntropy;
@@ -69,9 +70,9 @@
   public static HornJob createJob(HamaConfiguration conf, String modelPath,
       String inputPath, float learningRate, float momemtumWeight,
       float regularizationWeight, int features, int hu, int labels,
-      int miniBatch, int maxIteration) throws IOException {
+      int miniBatch, int maxIteration) throws IOException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException {
 
-    HornJob job = new HornJob(conf, MultiLayerPerceptron.class);
+    HornJob job = new HornJob(conf, LayeredNeuralNetwork.class, MultiLayerPerceptron.class);
     job.setTrainingSetPath(inputPath);
     job.setModelPath(modelPath);
 
@@ -95,7 +96,7 @@
   }
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException,
-      InterruptedException, ClassNotFoundException {
+      InterruptedException, ClassNotFoundException, NumberFormatException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException {
     if (args.length < 9) {
       System.out.println("Usage: <MODEL_PATH> <INPUT_PATH> "
           + "<LEARNING_RATE> <MOMEMTUM_WEIGHT> <REGULARIZATION_WEIGHT> "