Several bug fixes in current NDData 

The intent is that this PR contains fixes to the current behavior of NDData without proposing new behavior (i.e. it fixes bugs but should not suggest additions or changes in behavior beyond fixing the bugs).

Before merging:
+ [x] changelog entries need to be written after issues have been tagged with a release.
+ [x] rebase if #2395 is merged

Issues addressed are: 

Issue    | Milestone (may 13)
-------   | ------------------------
#2406  |  0.3.3
#2409  |  0.3.3
#2410  |  0.3.3
#2170  |  0.3.3
#2414  |  0.4.0
#2417  |  0.3.3
#2413  |  0.3.3
#2393  |  0.3.3
#2394  |  0.3.3

Will try to structure this so each commit addresses a single issue to make cherry-picking easier if it is necessary. [but messed up a bit -- part of the fix for #2417 ended up in the fix for #2414]

**EDIT** on may 13: Added table of issues/milestones
**EDIT 2** on may 13: Add issues from #2395 (now closed) to list of issues in this PR