the optional use of a signature codice_24 at the begin of bocu-1 encoded texts, i.e. the bocu-1 byte sequence codice_25, changes the initial state codice_8 to codice_27. in other words, the signature cannot simply be stripped as in most other unicode encoding schemes. adding a reset byte after the signature (codice_28) could avoid this effect, but the bocu-1 specification does not recommend this practice.