On 26 November 2008, three researchers of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) were bestowed the Best APNNA Poster Award, an award held in conjunction with the 15th International Conference on Neural Information Processing of the Asia-Pacific Neural Network Assembly (ICONIP'08) in Auckland, New Zealand.

Asia-Pacific Neural Network Assembly (APNNA) is a major organisation of researchers and practitioners from not only the Asia-Pacific region but also all over the world in intelligent systems, specifically in neuro-information processing, neuro-computation, neuro-engineering and brain study. The organisation conducts a variety of activities to attract researchers, practitioners and graduate students to foster the advancement of knowledge and education.

Tou Jing Yi, Dr. Tay Yong Haur and Dr. Lau Phooi Yee who were part of the Computer Vision and Intelligent Systems research group at UTAR submitted their winning entry to the ICONIP'08 held in Auckland, New Zealand from 25 to 28 November 2008.

Their research paper which won them the award was entitled 'Gabor Filters as Feature Images for Covariance Matrix on Texture Classification Problem.' The group was awarded certificates and NZD 300.

Tou represented the group during the ICONIP'08 in New Zealand and was also present to receive the award on behalf of UTAR.

Tou explained, "Gabor filters and Covariance Matrix are two common mathematical algorithms used in detecting texture classifications. These mathematical algorithms assist in the development of a number of technological applications which require features such as wood species recognition, face detection and character detection. Examples of such applications are the well-known smart home and smart car applications."

"Our research proved that combining both of these mathematical algorithms would produce higher accuracy in texture classification as compared to utilising them individually," he said.