diff --git a/src/esn/deepesn.jl b/src/esn/deepesn.jl
index bdd44c08..ed599226 100644
--- a/src/esn/deepesn.jl
+++ b/src/esn/deepesn.jl
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ function DeepESN(train_data::AbstractArray, in_size::Int, res_size::Int; depth::
         input_matrix, bias_vector)
     train_data = train_data[:, (washout + 1):end]
 
-    DeepESN(res_size, train_data, nla_type, input_matrix,
+    return DeepESN(res_size, train_data, nla_type, input_matrix,
         inner_res_driver, reservoir_matrix, bias_vector, states_type, washout,
         states)
 end
diff --git a/src/esn/esn.jl b/src/esn/esn.jl
index d541c258..8d1854b0 100644
--- a/src/esn/esn.jl
+++ b/src/esn/esn.jl
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ function ESN(train_data::AbstractArray, in_size::Int, res_size::Int;
         input_matrix, bias_vector)
     train_data = train_data[:, (washout + 1):end]
 
-    ESN(res_size, train_data, nla_type, input_matrix,
+    return ESN(res_size, train_data, nla_type, input_matrix,
         inner_res_driver, reservoir_matrix, bias_vector, states_type, washout,
         states)
 end
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ end
 function (esn::AbstractEchoStateNetwork)(prediction::AbstractPrediction,
         output_layer::AbstractOutputLayer; last_state=esn.states[:, [end]],
         kwargs...)
-    pred_len = prediction.prediction_len
     return obtain_esn_prediction(esn, prediction, last_state, output_layer;
         kwargs...)
 end
diff --git a/src/esn/esn_inits.jl b/src/esn/esn_inits.jl
index 5d9209ca..43f8749b 100644
--- a/src/esn/esn_inits.jl
+++ b/src/esn/esn_inits.jl
@@ -237,30 +237,15 @@ julia> res_input = minimal_init(8, 3; p=0.8)# higher p -> more positive signs
 ```
 """
 function minimal_init(rng::AbstractRNG, ::Type{T}, dims::Integer...;
-        sampling_type::Symbol=:bernoulli, weight::Number=T(0.1), irrational::Real=pi,
-        start::Int=1, p::Number=T(0.5)) where {T <: Number}
+        sampling_type::Symbol=:bernoulli, kwargs...) where {T <: Number}
     res_size, in_size = dims
-    if sampling_type == :bernoulli
-        layer_matrix = _create_bernoulli(p, res_size, in_size, weight, rng, T)
-    elseif sampling_type == :irrational
-        layer_matrix = _create_irrational(irrational,
-            start,
-            res_size,
-            in_size,
-            weight,
-            rng,
-            T)
-    else
-        error("""\n
-            Sampling type not allowed. 
-            Please use one of :bernoulli or :irrational\n
-        """)
-    end
+    f_sample = getfield(@__MODULE__, sampling_type)
+    layer_matrix = f_sample(rng, T, res_size, in_size; kwargs...)
     return layer_matrix
 end
 
-function _create_bernoulli(p::Number, res_size::Int, in_size::Int, weight::Number,
-        rng::AbstractRNG, ::Type{T}) where {T <: Number}
+function bernoulli(rng::AbstractRNG, ::Type{T}, res_size::Int, in_size::Int;
+        weight::Number=T(0.1), p::Number=T(0.5)) where {T <: Number}
     input_matrix = DeviceAgnostic.zeros(rng, T, res_size, in_size)
     for i in 1:res_size
         for j in 1:in_size
@@ -274,9 +259,9 @@ function _create_bernoulli(p::Number, res_size::Int, in_size::Int, weight::Numbe
     return input_matrix
 end
 
-function _create_irrational(irrational::Irrational, start::Int, res_size::Int,
-        in_size::Int, weight::Number, rng::AbstractRNG,
-        ::Type{T}) where {T <: Number}
+function irrational(rng::AbstractRNG, ::Type{T}, res_size::Int, in_size::Int;
+        irrational::Irrational=pi, start::Int=1,
+        weight::Number=T(0.1)) where {T <: Number}
     setprecision(BigFloat, Int(ceil(log2(10) * (res_size * in_size + start + 1))))
     ir_string = string(BigFloat(irrational)) |> collect
     deleteat!(ir_string, findall(x -> x == '.', ir_string))
diff --git a/src/esn/esn_predict.jl b/src/esn/esn_predict.jl
index 46e30e95..dc61c3c4 100644
--- a/src/esn/esn_predict.jl
+++ b/src/esn/esn_predict.jl
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ function obtain_esn_prediction(esn,
         states[:, i] = x
     end
 
-    save_states ? (output, states) : output
+    return save_states ? (output, states) : output
 end
 
 function obtain_esn_prediction(esn,
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function obtain_esn_prediction(esn,
         states[:, i] = x
     end
 
-    save_states ? (output, states) : output
+    return save_states ? (output, states) : output
 end
 
 #prediction dispatch on esn 
@@ -98,11 +98,11 @@ function allocate_outpad(hesn::HybridESN, states_type, out)
 end
 
 function allocate_singlepadding(::AbstractPaddedStates, out)
-    adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1) + 1))
+    return adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1) + 1))
 end
 function allocate_singlepadding(::StandardStates, out)
-    adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1)))
+    return adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1)))
 end
 function allocate_singlepadding(::ExtendedStates, out)
-    adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1)))
+    return adapt(typeof(out), zeros(size(out, 1)))
 end
diff --git a/src/esn/esn_reservoir_drivers.jl b/src/esn/esn_reservoir_drivers.jl
index a5e207af..e74f8f8c 100644
--- a/src/esn/esn_reservoir_drivers.jl
+++ b/src/esn/esn_reservoir_drivers.jl
@@ -101,11 +101,11 @@ echo state networks (`ESN`).
     Defaults to 1.0.
 """
 function RNN(; activation_function=fast_act(tanh), leaky_coefficient=1.0)
-    RNN(activation_function, leaky_coefficient)
+    return RNN(activation_function, leaky_coefficient)
 end
 
 function reservoir_driver_params(rnn::RNN, args...)
-    rnn
+    return rnn
 end
 
 function next_state!(out, rnn::RNN, x, y, W, W_in, b, tmp_array)
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function next_state!(out, rnn::RNN, x, y, W, W_in, b, tmp_array)
     mul!(tmp_array[2], W_in, y)
     @. tmp_array[1] = rnn.activation_function(tmp_array[1] + tmp_array[2] + b) *
                       rnn.leaky_coefficient
-    @. out = (1 - rnn.leaky_coefficient) * x + tmp_array[1]
+    return @. out = (1 - rnn.leaky_coefficient) * x + tmp_array[1]
 end
 
 function next_state!(out, rnn::RNN, x, y, W::Vector, W_in, b, tmp_array)
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ function obtain_gru_state!(out, variant::FullyGated, gru, x, y, W, W_in, b, tmp_
     mul!(tmp_array[7], W_in, y)
     mul!(tmp_array[8], W, tmp_array[6] .* x)
     @. tmp_array[9] = gru.activation_function[3](tmp_array[7] + tmp_array[8] + b)
-    @. out = (1 - tmp_array[3]) * x + tmp_array[3] * tmp_array[9]
+    return @. out = (1 - tmp_array[3]) * x + tmp_array[3] * tmp_array[9]
 end
 
 #minimal
@@ -366,5 +366,5 @@ function obtain_gru_state!(out, variant::Minimal, gru, x, y, W, W_in, b, tmp_arr
     mul!(tmp_array[5], W, tmp_array[3] .* x)
     @. tmp_array[6] = gru.activation_function[2](tmp_array[4] + tmp_array[5] + b)
 
-    @. out = (1 - tmp_array[3]) * x + tmp_array[3] * tmp_array[6]
+    return @. out = (1 - tmp_array[3]) * x + tmp_array[3] * tmp_array[6]
 end
diff --git a/src/esn/hybridesn.jl b/src/esn/hybridesn.jl
index 366799d1..0c0a945e 100644
--- a/src/esn/hybridesn.jl
+++ b/src/esn/hybridesn.jl
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ function HybridESN(model::KnowledgeModel, train_data::AbstractArray,
         input_matrix, bias_vector)
     train_data = train_data[:, (washout + 1):end]
 
-    HybridESN(res_size, train_data, model, nla_type, input_matrix,
+    return HybridESN(res_size, train_data, model, nla_type, input_matrix,
         inner_res_driver, reservoir_matrix, bias_vector, states_type, washout,
         states)
 end
diff --git a/src/predict.jl b/src/predict.jl
index 18a30bfb..a60fa992 100644
--- a/src/predict.jl
+++ b/src/predict.jl
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ on the learned relationships in the model.
 """
 function Predictive(prediction_data::AbstractArray)
     prediction_len = size(prediction_data, 2)
-    Predictive(prediction_data, prediction_len)
+    return Predictive(prediction_data, prediction_len)
 end
 
 function obtain_prediction(rc::AbstractReservoirComputer, prediction::Generative,
diff --git a/src/states.jl b/src/states.jl
index 9f78d993..a38726b2 100644
--- a/src/states.jl
+++ b/src/states.jl
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ abstract type AbstractPaddedStates <: AbstractStates end
 abstract type NonLinearAlgorithm end
 
 function pad_state!(states_type::AbstractPaddedStates, x_pad, x)
-    x_pad = vcat(fill(states_type.padding, (1, size(x, 2))), x)
+    x_pad[1, :] .= states_type.padding
+    x_pad[2:end, :] .= x
     return x_pad
 end
 
 function pad_state!(states_type, x_pad, x)
-    x_pad = x
-    return x_pad
+    return x
 end
 
 #states types