PR for deployment

[Linetmkandoe]

Description

Please include a summary of the change and which issue is fixed.
This PR merges changes from the dev branch to the staging branch, integrating all recent updates and improvements that have been implemented.
Please also include relevant motivation and context.
List any dependencies that are required for this change.

Perhaps answering the following questions will help create a good description:

• What is this?
• This is a merge request to move updates from the dev branch into staging for further testing and validation. The updates include recent code changes, bug fixes, and configuration adjustments made during development.
• Why this?
• This merge is necessary to ensure that the latest features and fixes are tested in the staging environment before being pushed to production. It allows the team to catch any potential issues before deploying to production.
• How are you doing this?
  I am merging the dev branch into staging using this PR. This includes all recent commits in dev, which have been reviewed and tested during development
  Fixes # (issue) [Provide a link to the related Jira Task]

Type of change

Specify the kind of PR/MR

Please delete options that are not relevant.

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)
• This change requires a documentation update
• Optimization
• Improvement
• Bug fix

How Has This Been Tested?

Please describe the tests that you ran to verify your changes. Provide instructions so we can reproduce. Please also list any relevant details for your test configuration

• Test A - e.g Manually tested user creation
• Test B

Checklist:

• My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• New and existing unit tests pass locally with my changes
• Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules