The dynamic response of a beam-tip mass-pendulum system subjected to a sinusoidal excitation is investigated. A simple pendulum mounted to a tip mass of a beam is used as a vibration absorber. The nonlinear equations of motion are developed to investigate the autoparametric interaction between the first two modes of the system. The nonlinear terms appear due to the curvature of the beam and the coupling effect between the beam and pendulum. Complete energy transfer between modes is shown to occur when the beam frequency is twice the pendulum frequency. Experimental results are compared with a theoretical solution obtained using numerical integration. The experimental results are in qualitative agreement with the theory.

Educational programs face many difficulties because of the rapid change of technology in today's environment. The potential for educational programs based on the transdisciplinary model is discussed in order to address and overcome these difficulties. A closer relationship with industry in developing educational programs is suggested. Finally, a new transdisciplinary master of engineering program, developed jointly by industry and the Institute for Design and Advanced Technology at Texas Tech University, is described.

Life-cycle engineering (LCE) is a decision-making methodology that considers performance, environmental and cost requirements for the duration of a product. This methodology is becoming a norm for global companies that want to remain competitive. To facilitate and enhance the application of LCE methodology to industrial products, a number of computer tools or utilities that require minimal user input, and hence run automatically in the background of the design process, have been developed. These utilities are intended to provide a feedback on an evolving design without impeding or hampering the design process. There exists a need to continue research on the development of tools that simulate flows in a life-cycle and optimize them. These tools should be based on the client-server model base on the Internet to facilitate the e-Transition.