Upgrade Queries: 1. Refactor Core DAOs (Notifications and Users)

[xlorepdarkhelm]

Converting queries to SQLAlchemy 2.0 standards is a complex process, this issue is for updating the following modules:

• app/dao/notifications_dao.py
• app/dao/users_dao.py

These modules require the following steps to be done for them (explained in Upgrade SQLAlchemy queries to 2.0 standards #1319):

1. Refactor SELECT Statements
2. Refactor INSERT Statements
3. Refactor UPDATE Statements
4. Refactor DELETE Statements
5. Refactor Utility Functions
6. Use Transactions Correctly

Acceptance Criteria:

• Make the necessary changes to the modules
• Double check that running the migrations and tests still work as expected with no deviation from the previous code
• Verify that a deploy to staging works with the changes once merged

Security Considerations

As SQLAlchemy 2.0+ is now released, the older 1.4 way is deprecated, and may not receive security updates, as well as are expected to be completely phased out of the codebase in the relatively near future.

Other than that, there's really nothing. The end goal should be that this changes these modules and doesn't impact anything else.