diff --git a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
index db39405..c3567d9 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@
         @Option(name = "-profile", usage = "Whether or not to do runtime profifling", required = false)
         private boolean profile = false;
         
+        @Option(name = "-coresPerMachine", usage="the number of cores available in each machine", required=false)
+        private int coresPerMachine;
+        
         @Option(name = "-runLocal", usage = "Run a local instance using the Hadoop MiniCluster. NOTE: overrides settings for -ip and -port", required=false)
         private boolean runLocal = false;
         
@@ -170,7 +173,7 @@
     public static final String RUN_LOCAL = "genomix.runLocal";
 
     // TODO should these also be command line options?
-    public static final String CPARTITION_PER_MACHINE = "genomix.driver.duplicate.num";
+    public static final String CORES_PER_MACHINE = "genomix.driver.duplicate.num";
     public static final String FRAME_SIZE = "genomix.framesize";
     public static final String FRAME_LIMIT = "genomix.framelimit";
     public static final String TABLE_SIZE = "genomix.tablesize";
@@ -322,8 +325,8 @@
             set(HDFS_WORK_PATH, "genomix_out");  // should be in the user's home directory? 
         
         // hyracks-specific
-        if (getInt(CPARTITION_PER_MACHINE, -1) == -1)
-            setInt(CPARTITION_PER_MACHINE, 2);
+        if (getInt(CORES_PER_MACHINE, -1) == -1)
+            setInt(CORES_PER_MACHINE, 4);
         
         if (getBoolean(RUN_LOCAL, false)) {
             // override any other settings for HOST and PORT
@@ -356,13 +359,14 @@
         if (opts.runLocal && (opts.ipAddress != null || opts.port != -1))
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Option -runLocal cannot be set at the same time as -port or -ip! (-runLocal starts a cluster; -ip and -port specify an existing cluster)");
         setBoolean(RUN_LOCAL, opts.runLocal);
+        
         // Hyracks/Pregelix Setup
         if (opts.ipAddress != null)
             set(IP_ADDRESS, opts.ipAddress);
         setInt(PORT, opts.port);
         setBoolean(PROFILE, opts.profile);
-        
-                
+        setInt(CORES_PER_MACHINE, opts.coresPerMachine);
+       
         // Graph cleaning
         setInt(BRIDGE_REMOVE_MAX_LENGTH, opts.bridgeRemove_maxLength);
         setFloat(BUBBLE_MERGE_MAX_DISSIMILARITY, opts.bubbleMerge_maxDissimilarity);
@@ -371,6 +375,5 @@
         setFloat(PATHMERGE_RANDOM_PROB_BEING_RANDOM_HEAD, opts.pathMergeRandom_probBeingRandomHead);
         setFloat(REMOVE_LOW_COVERAGE_MAX_COVERAGE, opts.removeLowCoverage_maxCoverage);
         setInt(TIP_REMOVE_MAX_LENGTH, opts.tipRemove_maxLength);
-        
     }
 }
diff --git a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/minicluster/GenomixMiniCluster.java b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/minicluster/GenomixMiniCluster.java
index abaac30..28d6572 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/minicluster/GenomixMiniCluster.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/minicluster/GenomixMiniCluster.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
         makeLocalClusterConfig();
         ClusterConfig.setClusterPropertiesPath(clusterProperties.toAbsolutePath().toString());
         ClusterConfig.setStorePath(clusterStores.toAbsolutePath().toString());
-//        dfsCluster = new MiniDFSCluster(conf, Integer.parseInt(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.CPARTITION_PER_MACHINE)), true, null);
+//        dfsCluster = new MiniDFSCluster(conf, Integer.parseInt(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.CORES_PER_MACHINE)), true, null);
         
         // cluster controller
         CCConfig ccConfig = new CCConfig();
diff --git a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
index 1a26fdf..3067afe 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
         conf.set(GenomixJobConf.GROUPBY_TYPE, GenomixJobConf.GROUPBY_TYPE_PRECLUSTER);
         hyracksDriver = new edu.uci.ics.genomix.hyracks.graph.driver.Driver(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.IP_ADDRESS),
                 Integer.parseInt(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.PORT)), Integer.parseInt(conf
-                        .get(GenomixJobConf.CPARTITION_PER_MACHINE)));
+                        .get(GenomixJobConf.CORES_PER_MACHINE)));
         hyracksDriver.runJob(conf, Plan.BUILD_UNMERGED_GRAPH, Boolean.parseBoolean(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.PROFILE)));
         followingBuild = true;
     }