diff --git a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ych/defaultcodecs/xml/DefaultXmlCodec.java b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ych/defaultcodecs/xml/DefaultXmlCodec.java
index dd78ab5..2cd6710 100644
--- a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ych/defaultcodecs/xml/DefaultXmlCodec.java
+++ b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ych/defaultcodecs/xml/DefaultXmlCodec.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
             rootElement.add(Namespace.get(rootNode.getNamespace()));
         }
 
-        if (rootElement.getName().equals("config")) {
+        if ("config".equals(rootElement.getName())) {
             rootElement.add(new Namespace("nc", "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0"));
         }
 
diff --git a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/yob/YobUtils.java b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/yob/YobUtils.java
index 54bb37f..76339b8 100644
--- a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/yob/YobUtils.java
+++ b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/yob/YobUtils.java
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
                 break;
 
             case EMPTY:
-                if (leafValue == null || leafValue.equals("")) {
+                if (leafValue == null || "".equals(leafValue)) {
                     parentSetterMethod.invoke(parentBuilderObject, true);
                 } else {
                     log.info(E_INVALID_EMPTY_DATA);
diff --git a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ytb/YdtBuilderFromYo.java b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ytb/YdtBuilderFromYo.java
index 4faa58b..76b1647 100644
--- a/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ytb/YdtBuilderFromYo.java
+++ b/apps/yms/app/src/main/java/org/onosproject/yms/app/ytb/YdtBuilderFromYo.java
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@
                 }
                 break;
             }
-            if (!val.equals("")) {
+            if (!"".equals(val)) {
                 leafListVal.add(val);
             }
         }