Matrix degeneration is a phenomenon where the rank of a matrix is reduced after it undergoes some form of processing.

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In the chain structure of a feedforward network, Let's assume the input example is $x \in \mathbb{R}^d$, then the first layer is given by
$h^{(1)} = g^{(1)} (W^{(1)T}x + b^{(1)})$
the second layer is given by 
$h^{(2)} = g^{(2)} (W^{(2)T} h^{(1)}+ b^{(2)})$
and so on.
For the output layer,
$\hat{y} = g^{(n)}(W^{(n)T} h^{(n-1)}+ b^{(n)})$

where the matrix $W^{(k)}\in \mathbb{R}^{d\times h_k}$ is the weight parameter for layer $k$ and $g^{k}$ is the activation function for layer $k$. Whether transposing $W^{(k)}$ depends on the shape of the vector.

Connection between the Layers of Neural Network

Reference of Foundations of Large Language Models Course

In a neural network, numeric data points, called inputs, are fed into the neurons in the input layer. Each neuron has a weight, and multiplying the input number with the weight gives the output of the neuron, which is transferred to the next layer.
The activation function is a mathematical “gate” in between the input feeding the current neuron and its output going to the next layer. It can be as simple as a step function that turns the neuron output on and off, depending on a rule or threshold. Or it can be a transformation that maps the input signals into output signals that are needed for the neural network to function.
Activation functions are mathematical equations that determine the output of a neural network. The function is attached to each neuron in the network, and determines whether it should be activated (“fired”) or not, based on whether each neuron’s input is relevant for the model’s prediction. Activation functions also help normalize the output of each neuron to a range between 1 and 0 or between -1 and 1. When used in a multilayer neural network, activation functions can be different for different layers. 

Activation Functions in Neural Networks

Batch normalization is a method that helps to speed neural network training. The basic idea is that we shift and scale the inputs to every layer of neural network. 
For example, for a 3-layer neural network shown below, we want to normalize $z^{[3]}$ to speed the training of $w^{[3]}$ and $b^{[3]}$ in the third layer.

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