diff --git a/pykat/components.py b/pykat/components.py
index 8caba1b05ee2c379ae0d764774fab5b5c0b65e7b..8110fe84f44116ce80be78205cc866f326141eb0 100644
--- a/pykat/components.py
+++ b/pykat/components.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ class Component(object):
         
         cnew = type(cnew_name, (cls,), {})
         
-        return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
+        return object.__new__(cnew)
         
     def __init__(self, name=None):
         
diff --git a/pykat/detectors.py b/pykat/detectors.py
index b13521fce9cd4eb1097d7571a6dd668c3555d4df..648c80b82cb872e1a67cb96b7df17ba9105b6e77 100644
--- a/pykat/detectors.py
+++ b/pykat/detectors.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class BaseDetector(object) :
         
         cnew = type(cnew_name, (cls,), {})
         
-        return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
+        return object.__new__(cnew)
         
     def __init__(self, name, nodes=None, max_nodes=1):
         
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ class pd(Detector1):
     
         cnew = type(cnew_name, (cls,), {})
     
-        return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
+        return object.__new__(cnew)
 
     def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
         """
diff --git a/pykat/finesse.py b/pykat/finesse.py
index d3ae8f926684ef30edfc1c9a6ff540734c6f33b9..e5013fe14dec7f54cf61e435f8ba79a43cce9b98 100644
--- a/pykat/finesse.py
+++ b/pykat/finesse.py
@@ -433,8 +433,8 @@ class kat(object):
         global id___
         id___ += 1
         cnew = type(pykat.finesse.kat.__name__ + str("_") + str(id___), (pykat.finesse.kat,), {})
-        return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
-	
+        return object.__new__(cnew)
+    
     def __init__(self, kat_file=None, kat_code=None, katdir="", katname="", tempdir=None, tempname=None):
         self.scene = None # scene object for GUI
         self.verbose = True
@@ -1119,7 +1119,7 @@ class kat(object):
             
             [out,errpipe] = p.communicate()
 
-            _out = out.split("\n")
+            _out = str(out).split("\n")
 
             for line in _out[::-1]:
                 if line.lstrip().startswith('computation time:'):
diff --git a/pykat/node_network.py b/pykat/node_network.py
index 2500812d48665b21e6dec1ee5040fb6d384e626d..8d0c94026831b6cef820722f6944c61e7db643dd 100644
--- a/pykat/node_network.py
+++ b/pykat/node_network.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ class NodeNetwork(object):
         
         cnew = type(cnew_name, (cls,), {})
         
-        return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
+        #return object.__new__(cnew, *args, **kwargs)
+        return object.__new__(cnew)
 
     def __init__(self, kat):
         self.__nodes = {}