In this paper, a class of fourth order differential operators with eigenparameter-dependent boundary conditions and transmission conditions is considered. A new operator associated with the problem is established, and the self-adjointness of this operator in an appropriate Hilbert space $H$ is proved. The fundamental solutions are constructed. Sufficient and necessary conditions of the eigenvalues are investigated. Then asymptotic formulas for the fundamental solutions and the characteristic functions are given. Finally, the completeness of eigenfunctions in $H$ is given and the Green function is also involved.

We investigate the Sturm-Liouville (S-L) operator with boundary and transfer conditions dependent on the eigen-parameter. By utilizing interval partitioning and factorization techniques of characteristic function, it is proven that this problem has a finite number of eigenvalues when the coefficients of the equation meet certain conditions, and some conditions for determining the number of eigenvalues are provided. The results indicate that the number of eigenvalues in this problem varies when the transfer conditions depend on the eigen-parameter. Furthermore, the equivalence between this problem and matrix eigenvalue problems is studied, and an equivalent matrix representation of the S-L problem is presented.