commit 71f6e6bd4dc58e16362447b8db0ca263999fe9f4
parent 003a4329417474dbe3374ebc444fa6d1d94d99bb
Author: Silas Brack <s174433@student.dtu.dk>
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2023 17:39:14 +0100
Basically done.
Diffstat:
2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
diff --git a/chapters/acknowledgments.tex b/chapters/acknowledgments.tex
@@ -1,30 +1,30 @@
\chapter*{Acknowledgments}
-\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Acknowledgments} % Add the ackn to the table of contents as a chapter
+\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Acknowledgments}
From the first day of the hackathon, I've felt like a part of the team.
And this is thanks to everyone in S{\o}ren's group---especially Marco---who have always made me feel included and like my contribution was valued.
Everyone in the group has been helpful and kind, and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to work with bright, funny people who are always up for a good chat about anything and everything, right down to the last chat about five-for-one deals on paintings.
You guys made the experience what it was.
-I'd also like to emphasise my appreciation to Frederik and Marco for introducing me to research and helping me bounce back from my initial frustrations.
+I'd also like to emphasise my gratitude to Frederik and Marco for introducing me to research and helping me bounce back from my initial frustrations.
I've learned a lot from you guys, and I've gotten a lot of great advice from you.
I've learned a lot from everyone in the group, actually.
It's hard to overstate S{\o}ren's impact on my master's thesis experience.
Thanks for always being up for a great chat (it led to me doing this thesis in the first place), for giving me the opportunity to work on challenging problems, and for being kind.
-I always felt welcome to drop by so I could bounce ideas off of you; you somehow always managed to make me feel like I was making progress, even when I was stuck.
+I always felt welcome to drop by and bounce ideas off of you; you somehow always managed to make me feel like I was making progress, even when I was stuck.
I don't think I could have chosen a better supervisor.
-I'm also grateful to Julia, J\'ulia, Brandon, and \'Ad\'am (the person, not the optimiser) for the endless opportunities to sit on the couch and relax and (definitely) not do any work.
-% I really appreciate having had your support.
+I'm also grateful to Julia, J\'ulia, Brandon, and \'Ad\'am (my friend, not the optimiser) for the endless opportunities to sit on the couch and relax and (definitely) not do any work.
Thanks for being great friends.
-I couldn't have done any of this without Jason and Kristi nurturing in me a sense of curiosity, independence, and kindness.
+Jason and Kristi nurtured in me a sense of curiosity, independence, and kindness.
The three of us go way back; and it's hard to say if I would've come to Denmark without their encouragement.
Thanks for never forgetting me in the supermarket.
-To Lorenza, for convincing me to follow through with the hackathon, for being a great friend and for being the best person to chat with when I was feeling overwhelmed.
-You've unwaveringly supported me through this whole process, and I'm glad I've had the chance to get to know you.
+And Lorenza---if you hadn't convinced me to follow through with the hackathon, I wouldn't have had the experience I did.
+You've been a great friend and the best person to chat with when I'm feeling overwhelmed.
+I'm glad I met you.
And above all else, to Steampunk.
diff --git a/chapters/preface.tex b/chapters/preface.tex
@@ -2,26 +2,28 @@
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Preface} % Add the preface to the table of contents as a chapter
I've been studying for a pretty long time.
-I suppose that, because of this, there is some sense of anticipation, of the sensation that this is the culmination of a long journey.
-Not always having been the biggest adherent to the idea of symbol-for-the-sake-of-symbol, I wasn't sure what to expect of this experience.
-Many people have had mixed experiences while writing their theses, though in general people seem to associate the process with a sense of accomplishment, since it is perceived to be the step in a long journey.
-However, while there have been
+Because of this, I suppose there is some sense of anticipation, that your thesis is the culmination of all the work you've done up to this point.
+Having not always been the biggest adherent to the idea of symbol-for-the-sake-of-symbol, I wasn't sure what to expect of this experience.
+For many, writing a thesis seems to be a mixed bag, though in general people feel a sense of accomplishment, since they see it as being the last step in a long journey.
-I definitely had a slow start to the thesis (most people do), since for the first month or so I just explored the software and the literature, and tried to get a feel for the problem.
-While I tried to generate some preliminary results, I quickly encountered some roadblocks.
-As it turned out, these issues were quite fundamental to the problem---but S{\o}ren had found a paper which addressed them and invited me to a hackathon with his research group, where he was planning to try to implement the methods from the paper.
-Initially, I was a bit hesitant about going, since I had never been to a hackathon in a research group, and I was worried that I would be out of my depth and that I would not be able to contribute.
-However, Lorenza helped me get over my fear of marginalisation and I decided to go, and I am glad that I did.
+I definitely had a slow start to the thesis (most people do), since for the first month or so I just explored the software and the literature to get a feel for the problem.
+Looking back, this was a really good idea, since understanding the software ended up being key to solving the problems in this thesis.
+When I tried to generate some preliminary results, I quickly encountered some roadblocks.
+As it turned out, though, these issues were quite fundamental to the problem---but my supervisor, S{\o}ren, had found a paper which addressed some of them.
+He then invited me to a hackathon with his research group, where they were planning to sit together and try to implenent the methods from the paper.
+Initially, I was a bit hesitant about going, since I had never been to a research-related hackathon, and I was a bit worried that I would be out of my depth and that I wouldn't be able to contribute.
+However, after Lorenza helped me get over my fears, I decided to go, and I'm glad I did.
-The Hackathon and the project that followed it were probably the most fun I've had studying.
-
-I've gotten the chance to work on some really novel problems, like preconditioning and numerical issues, and have enjoyed every minute of it.
+The hackathon and the project that followed it were probably the most fun I've had while studying at DTU.
+I got the chance to work on some really novel problems (like dealing with ill conditioning and numerical issues) and enjoyed every minute of it.
This thesis is the product of a five-month-long span of work conducted in the Section for Cognitive Systems of DTU Compute, during which I helped develop some of the ideas in the ``Large-Scale Laplace'' project.
-This project is, at the time of writing, still ongoing; hopefully we'll soon publish the results of our work.
-In this project, I developed and implemented the sampling procedure for the full Hessian Laplace approximation.
-This includes the implementation of the sampling algorithm (and all the mathematical machinery necessary to make it work), as well as the formulation, implementation and testing of preconditioners.
-I also contributed to parts of the derivation and implementation of the marginal training algorithm, though I would say the bulk of this was done by Hrittik, Johan and Pablo.
+This project is, at the time of writing, still ongoing; we'll hopefully soon publish the results of our work.
+In this project, I developed and implemented the sampling procedure for the full Laplace approximation.
+This includes the implementation of the sampling algorithm (and all the mathematical machinery behind it), as well as the formulation, implementation and testing of preconditioners.
+During the hackathon, I collaborated with Marco Miani and Eugene Zainchkovskyy on the early work on sampling.
+I also contributed to parts of the derivation and implementation of the marginal training algorithm, though I would say the bulk of this was done by Hrittik Roy, Johan Ye and Pablo Moreno-Mu\~noz.
+And S{\o}ren Hauberg helped massively everywhere.
\begin{flushright}
\textit{Silas Brack}
