Drop the usage of assert statements

[kaitlinnewson]

Describe the bug
Follow up of the discussion: #8749

Throughout the classes, there are asserts being used to check for values being set or if an object belongs to a class/type. We should review these and consider removing them or converting them to proper exceptions/type hints where appropriate.

Filing based on feedback received in review of Notes conversion to Eloquent from @jonasraoni: #10268 (comment)

What application are you using?
OJS, OMP or OPS version main

Additional information
Example:

pkp-lib/classes/controllers/grid/DataObjectGridCellProvider.php

Line 77 in a1e4461

assert($element instanceof \PKP\core\DataObject && !empty($columnId));

Other possible examples to review: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Apkp%2Fpkp-lib+assert%28%24element&type=code

[jonasraoni]

Linking the discussion: #8749