code: public static SimpleURIReference toURIReference(String pidString) {
          SimpleURIReference ref = null;
          try {
              ref = new SimpleURIReference(new URI(toURI(pidString)));
          } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
              // assumes pid is well-formed
              throw new Error(e);
          }
          return ref;
      }
docs: Return a URIReference of some PID string, assuming it is well-formed.