\item{keep_operators}{a \link{character} specifying how to handle operators (such as \code{>} and \code{<=}) in the input. Accepts one of three values: \code{"all"} (or \code{TRUE}) to keep all operators, \code{"none"} (or \code{FALSE}) to remove all operators, or \code{"edges"} to keep operators only at both ends of the range.}
\item{mic_range}{a manual range to limit the MIC values, e.g., \code{mic_range = c(0.001, 32)}. Use \code{NA} to set no limit on one side, e.g., \code{mic_range = c(NA, 32)}.}
Ordered \link{factor} with additional class \code{\link{mic}}, that in mathematical operations acts as a \link{numeric} vector. Bear in mind that the outcome of any mathematical operation on MICs will return a \link{numeric} value.
This transforms vectors to a new class \code{\link{mic}}, which treats the input as decimal numbers, while maintaining operators (such as ">=") and only allowing valid MIC values known to the field of (medical) microbiology.
To interpret MIC values as SIR values, use \code{\link[=as.sir]{as.sir()}} on MIC values. It supports guidelines from EUCAST (2011-2023) and CLSI (2011-2023).
This class for MIC values is a quite a special data type: formally it is an ordered \link{factor} with valid MIC values as \link{factor} levels (to make sure only valid MIC values are retained), but for any mathematical operation it acts as decimal numbers:
This makes it possible to maintain operators that often come with MIC values, such ">=" and "<=", even when filtering using \link{numeric} values in data analysis, e.g.:
All so-called \link[=groupGeneric]{group generic functions} are implemented for the MIC class (such as \code{!}, \code{!=}, \code{<}, \code{>=}, \code{\link[=exp]{exp()}}, \code{\link[=log2]{log2()}}). Some functions of the \code{stats} package are also implemented (such as \code{\link[=quantile]{quantile()}}, \code{\link[=median]{median()}}, \code{\link[=fivenum]{fivenum()}}). Since \code{\link[=sd]{sd()}} and \code{\link[=var]{var()}} are non-generic functions, these could not be extended. Use \code{\link[=mad]{mad()}} as an alternative, or use e.g. \code{sd(as.numeric(x))} where \code{x} is your vector of MIC values.
Using \code{\link[=as.double]{as.double()}} or \code{\link[=as.numeric]{as.numeric()}} on MIC values will remove the operators and return a numeric vector. Do \strong{not} use \code{\link[=as.integer]{as.integer()}} on MIC values as by the \R convention on \link{factor}s, it will return the index of the factor levels (which is often useless for regular users).
Use \code{\link[=droplevels]{droplevels()}} to drop unused levels. At default, it will return a plain factor. Use \code{droplevels(..., as.mic = TRUE)} to maintain the \code{mic} class.
With \code{\link[=limit_mic_range]{limit_mic_range()}}, existing MIC ranges can be limited to a defined range of MIC values. This can be useful to better compare MIC distributions.
For \code{ggplot2}, use one of the \code{\link[=scale_x_mic]{scale_*_mic()}} functions to plot MIC values. They allows custom MIC ranges and to plot intermediate log2 levels for missing MIC values.