Round one of V1 RC1 Patches

Addresses Issues #242, #243, #247, #253, #256, #257, #258, #259, #260,
#261, #262
Merge pull request #264 from gitcac/v1-RC1-Patches

Round one of V1 RC1 Patches - Addresses Issues #242, #243, #247, #253, #256, #257, #258, #259, #260,
#261, #262