code: @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
      public static Map<String, String> deserializeMap(String map) {
          if (map == null || map.equals("")) {
              return new HashMap<String, String>();
          } else {
              XStream xstream = new XStream(new DomDriver());
              return (Map<String, String>) xstream.fromXML(map);
          }
      }
docs: DeSerializes XML into a Map. If the XML is either empty or
  null an empty Map is returned.
  
  @param map
  @return