def extract_unique_elements(lst: list, ordered=True) -> list:
    """This function extracts the unique elements of the input list and returns them as an output list; by defualt, the returned list is ordered.
    Args:
        lst (list): input list from which we want to extract the unique elements
        ordered (bool): whether the output list of unique values is sorted or not; True by default
    Returns:
        out_list (list): list containing unique values
    """
    out_list = list(set(lst))  # type: list
    
    if ordered:  # if we want to sort the list of unique values
        out_list.sort()  # type: list
    
    return out_list