diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/CDL.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/CDL.java
index d99df448..e310e291 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/CDL.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/CDL.java
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ public static JSONObject rowToJSONObject(JSONArray names, JSONTokener x)
 	 * @return A string ending in NEWLINE.
 	 */
 	public static String rowToString(JSONArray ja) {
-	    StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+	    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
 	    for (int i = 0; i < ja.length(); i += 1) {
 	        if (i > 0) {
 	            sb.append(',');
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ public static String toString(JSONArray names, JSONArray ja)
         if (names == null || names.length() == 0) {
             return null;
         }
-        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         for (int i = 0; i < ja.length(); i += 1) {
             JSONObject jo = ja.optJSONObject(i);
             if (jo != null) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONException.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONException.java
index 956e4b97..60a82562 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONException.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONException.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ public JSONException(Throwable cause) {
         this.cause = cause;
     }
 
+	@Override
     public Throwable getCause() {
         return this.cause;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONObject.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONObject.java
index d07f1a69..b410e18f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONObject.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONObject.java
@@ -167,8 +167,6 @@ public JSONObject() {
      * Missing keys are ignored.
      * @param jo A JSONObject.
      * @param names An array of strings.
-     * @throws JSONException 
-     * @exception JSONException If a value is a non-finite number or if a name is duplicated.
      */
     public JSONObject(JSONObject jo, String[] names) {
         this();
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONTokener.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONTokener.java
index 6bad8697..a10ca9d1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONTokener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/json/JSONTokener.java
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ public JSONTokener(Reader reader) {
     
     /**
      * Construct a JSONTokener from an InputStream.
+     * @param inputStream
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public JSONTokener(InputStream inputStream) throws JSONException {
         this(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));    	
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ public JSONTokener(String s) {
      * Back up one character. This provides a sort of lookahead capability,
      * so that you can test for a digit or letter before attempting to parse
      * the next number or identifier.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public void back() throws JSONException {
         if (usePrevious || index <= 0) {
@@ -128,6 +131,7 @@ public boolean end() {
      * Determine if the source string still contains characters that next()
      * can consume.
      * @return true if not yet at the end of the source.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public boolean more() throws JSONException {
         next();
@@ -143,6 +147,7 @@ public boolean more() throws JSONException {
      * Get the next character in the source string.
      *
      * @return The next character, or 0 if past the end of the source string.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public char next() throws JSONException {
         int c;
@@ -249,7 +254,7 @@ public char nextClean() throws JSONException {
      */
     public String nextString(char quote) throws JSONException {
         char c;
-        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         for (;;) {
             c = next();
             switch (c) {
@@ -303,9 +308,10 @@ public String nextString(char quote) throws JSONException {
      * end of line, whichever comes first.
      * @param  delimiter A delimiter character.
      * @return   A string.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public String nextTo(char delimiter) throws JSONException {
-        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         for (;;) {
             char c = next();
             if (c == delimiter || c == 0 || c == '\n' || c == '\r') {
@@ -324,10 +330,11 @@ public String nextTo(char delimiter) throws JSONException {
      * characters or the end of line, whichever comes first.
      * @param delimiters A set of delimiter characters.
      * @return A string, trimmed.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public String nextTo(String delimiters) throws JSONException {
         char c;
-        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         for (;;) {
             c = next();
             if (delimiters.indexOf(c) >= 0 || c == 0 ||
@@ -365,16 +372,8 @@ public Object nextValue() throws JSONException {
                 return new JSONArray(this);
         }
 
-        /*
-         * Handle unquoted text. This could be the values true, false, or
-         * null, or it can be a number. An implementation (such as this one)
-         * is allowed to also accept non-standard forms.
-         *
-         * Accumulate characters until we reach the end of the text or a
-         * formatting character.
-         */
 
-        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         while (c >= ' ' && ",:]}/\\\"[{;=#".indexOf(c) < 0) {
             sb.append(c);
             c = next();
@@ -385,7 +384,8 @@ public Object nextValue() throws JSONException {
         if (string.equals("")) {
             throw syntaxError("Missing value");
         }
-        return JSONObject.stringToValue(string);
+        //return JSONObject.stringToValue(string);
+	return string; // we let the SerDe get the right type if numeric
     }
 
 
@@ -395,6 +395,7 @@ public Object nextValue() throws JSONException {
      * @param to A character to skip to.
      * @return The requested character, or zero if the requested character
      * is not found.
+     * @throws org.openx.data.jsonserde.json.JSONException
      */
     public char skipTo(char to) throws JSONException {
         char c;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructOIOptions.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructOIOptions.java
index 67b440c1..c42b78d7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructOIOptions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructOIOptions.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public Map<String, String> getMappings() {
         
         @Override
         public boolean equals(Object obj) {
-            if(!(obj instanceof JsonStructOIOptions) || obj == null) {
+            if(obj == null || !(obj instanceof JsonStructOIOptions) ) {
                 return false ;
             } else {
                 JsonStructOIOptions oio = (JsonStructOIOptions) obj;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructObjectInspector.java b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructObjectInspector.java
index 5db3a364..ed83e1ac 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructObjectInspector.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openx/data/jsonserde/objectinspector/JsonStructObjectInspector.java
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ public Object getStructFieldData(Object data, StructField fieldRef) {
         if (data == null) {
             return null;
         }
-        JSONObject obj = null ;
         
         if( data instanceof JSONObject) {
             return getStructFieldDataFromJsonObject((JSONObject) data, fieldRef );