s/^\s+|\s+$//g for $severity, $ticketnum, $timereceived, ...;

##</code><code>##

my $remedyqueue = [ map { $_->string_value=~s/^\s+|\s+$//gr }
  $xp->find("./custom_attribute_list/custom_attribute[normalize-space(name)='SLB_RemedyQueue']/value", $node)
    ->get_nodelist ];