Business firms and the public have encountered massive consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has become the most significant challenge and influenced all communities. This research study focuses on exploring the relationship between COVID-19 knowledge, social distancing, individuals' attitudes toward social media use, and practices of using social media amid the COVID-19 crisis. This study examines how attitudes toward social media use mediate the linkage between COVID-19 knowledge, social distancing, and practices for social media use. This survey uses a non-probability convenience sampling approach to collect samples and recruit willing respondents with their consent for data collection. This study recorded the feedback from 348 participants who encountered the indirect/direct effects of nationwide lockdowns, restrictions on social gatherings, and COVID-19 infection. The findings validate the proposed hypotheses for their direct effects and indicate significant β-values, t-statistics, and the p-values at p <0.001. The results validate a relationship between the COVID-19 knowledge of and social distancing practices. Similarly, the results approved a positive link between social distancing and attitudes toward social media use amid COVID-19. The findings validate the relation between social distancing and attitudes toward social media use during COVID-19 challenges (β-value = 0.22 and t-statistics = 3.078). The results show the linkage between attitudes toward social media use and practices of using social media (β-value = 0.41, and t-statistics = 7.175). Individuals' attitude toward social media use during COVID-19 mediates the connection between COVID-19 knowledge and COVID-19 practices of using social media use. The results validate the first mediation at β-value = 0.21 and t-statistic = 5.327. Similarly, the findings approve that attitudes toward social media use in the pandemic have positively mediated the relation between distancing and practices for social media use amid the crisis of COVID-19 (β-value = 0.09 and t-statistic = 2.633). The findings indicate how people have been indulged in social media to pave their business communication needs. The results provide valuable insights for the global business community. This study provides a systematic and holistic research model that helps in exploring the consequences of COVID-19. The generalizability of the findings provides valuable directions for future research related to the current pandemic.

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Debris flows are common geological hazards in mountainous regions worldwide. The scale of debris flows can be significantly enhanced by basal erosion and bank collapse in the transportation process, resulting in an increase in casualties and property losses. However, the mechanisms of this growth are largely unclear. Here, we conduct a series of experiments to investigate the erosion of two different bed sediments (coarse‐grained and widely graded) by released flows with three different densities and two different volumes. The erosion mechanisms of bed sediments are revealed by comparing detailed sensor data for flow level, pore pressure and total normal stress. A flow nose develops on the coarse‐grained bed sediment, resulting in a high flow depth and low velocity, while a tabular flow develops on the widely graded bed sediment, leading to a low flow depth and high velocity. The mean erosion rates of the coarse‐grained bed sediment are generally higher than those of the widely graded bed sediment due to significant pore pressure developed in coarse‐grained bed sediment. The feedback effect of bed sediment on the erosion process strongly influences the flow depth and velocity, which in turn affects the mean erosion rate of bed sediment. The interaction between the overlying flow and sediment bed controls the erosion pattern: coarse‐grained bed sediment is eroded by a layer of mass movement whereas widely graded bed sediment is progressively scoured. The interaction between debris flow and bed sediment during erosion is principally attributed to pore‐pressure transmission.

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